Leeds Arts and Health & Wellbeing Network

Reference Group: Terms of Reference

1. Leeds Arts and Health and Wellbeing Network (LAHWN) - vision, mission, principles, ways of working and objectives:

Vision:

Arts and creativity support Leeds to be a healthy city, where people who are the poorest improve their health the fastest.

Mission:

Our mission is to drive collaboration between creative arts, culture, academia and health by connecting, championing and supporting agencies and individuals to work better together. Through collaboration, we will transform communities and improve the health and wellbeing of people who live, work and study in Leeds.

Ways of Working:

· We connect through partnerships across culture, health, social care, local government and academia.

· We champion through supporting cross sector learning, highlighting best practice and advocating for arts and health.

· We support through providing information, nurturing collaboration and co-production.

Principles:

3 principles underpin and guide LAWHN’s work:

· Inclusive – supporting co-production and collaboration, promoting equity and challenging inequality.

· Sustainable – promoting environmental sustainability and supporting the sustainability of the creative sector.

· Impactful – working together to make a difference to our communities.

Objectives 2020-21:

· Explore the potential of our health and wellbeing services to make more use of the arts to deliver outcomes and work with existing Leeds arts agencies to have a greater focus on health and wellbeing.

• Raising awareness of how Leeds (and beyond) delivers health and wellbeing activity through the arts.

• Support efforts to deliver art to improve the health and wellbeing of staff across our partners.

2. LAHWN’s status

LAHWN is a network hosted by the University of Leeds Cultural Institute which has a role in facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers and external partners for mutual benefit and a research priority in relation to arts and health. LAHWN was established in January 2019 and is currently funded by a range of partners across the health sector as well as Leeds City Council. LAHWN is not constituted as an organisation but operates as a partnership project under the auspices of the Cultural Institute.

3. Purpose of the Reference Group

The Leeds Cultural Institute is the lead organisation for LAHWN and is responsible for the hosting, administration and management of the network, including staffing and budget management. The Reference Group was established in 2019 to provide a mechanism for key partners to support the development of the network. In 2020, a smaller Management Group, drawn from the Reference Group membership, was established to direct and oversee the activity of the network.

The Management Group is responsible for the strategic direction of LAWHN and for ensuring that activity undertaken by the Cultural Institute and the Network Co-ordinator to develop the network is consistent with its objectives. The Reference Group provides a broader function as an advisory group. It exists to advise and assist the Management Group to deliver the network’s agreed objectives. It aims to enable LAHWN to develop by connecting, championing and supporting, the agreed ways of working set out in the network’s vision and mission statement.

The group’s key areas of focus will include:

· Advising the Management Group as part of an annual review of the objectives to ensure they clearly support the agreed mission.

· Supporting the development of priority areas of focus to deliver each objective.

· Supporting communications activity to raise the profile of LAHWN through individual networks.

· Advising the Management Group about fundraising opportunities.

· Contributing to any working groups established to drive development in relation to a specific objective.

The Management Group will engage and consult with the wider membership through LAHWN’s Reference Group. It will provide an update report to the Reference Group at each meeting.

4. Membership

Membership of the Reference Group reflects the key sectors represented i.e. health and care, local government, academia and the cultural sector. The membership will be reviewed annually. New / co-opted members can be nominated by members of the Reference Group and recruited throughout the year. The following are represented on the Reference Group:

  • Adults and Health, Leeds City Council

  • Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board

  • Leeds Health Partnerships

  • Artists: Pauline Mayers & Fe

  • Leeds NHS Organisations

  • Arts & Minds Network

  • Leeds Playhouse

  • Arts Development, Leeds City Council

  • Libraries, Leeds City Council

  • Artforms, Leeds City Council

  • Museums & Galleries, Leeds City Council

  • Leeds Arts University

  • National/Regional Arts Council representative

  • Leeds Cultural Institute, University of Leeds

  • Leeds Beckett University

  • Skippko

  • Leeds Cultural Education Partnership

  • Thackray Museum of Medicine

  • Leeds 2023

    To be quorate five members should be present, one of whom must be from the Cultural Institute.

5. Chair

The Chair will be agreed by the members of the Reference Group on an annual basis.

6. Meetings

The Reference Group will meet formally with sufficient frequency as is necessary to carry out its duties; this will normally be once every quarter.

Administration to support the Reference Group will be provided by the Leeds Cultural Institute. Agendas will be circulated in advance, and members encouraged to submit items. Minutes of the meetings will be circulated within two weeks of the meeting for information.

7. Review of the Terms of Reference

The Terms of Reference shall be reviewed annually or sooner should significant changes be required.