Creative Futures was thrilled to be selected as a finalist in the Arts & Health category of the prestigious Royal Society for Public Health Awards 2017. Although we did not win the award – which went to University College London and Christ Church Canterbury’s ‘Museums on Prescription’ project – we were invited to attend the Awards Ceremony at a lavish dinner at London’s East Wintergarden.
The project for which we were nominated was ‘Music for Change’, our flagship Early Years programme which seeks through music and story-telling to raise children’s school readiness, improve speech, language and communication development among children aged 2-4 years, and narrow the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children as they enter school. Our nomination, which encompassed our family projects Queen’s Park Families, Westbourne Families and ‘Baby and Me and Mums to Be’, is a great tribute to the hard work of all of the artists, Early Years practitioners, researchers and partners who have worked with us on the various strands of this initiative in recent years. Our partners include Paddington Development Trust whose volunteer Maternity Champions support our family drop-ins, NHS Speech and Language Therapists (from Central London Community Healthcare), Professor Graham Welch, UCL Institute of Education and Professor Adam Ockelford at Roehampton University. Heartfelt thanks to all those who work with us on these programmes which support the most important phase of children’s development and growth.
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