On Wednesday 9th October, in the Market Community Centre, we launched our ‘Amplify’ community toolkit, in partnership with the Market Development Association (MDA).

The toolkit has been developed to build on the success of our recent Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Creative Communities funded Community Innovation Practitioner Pilot Programme. The pilot programme saw the use of arts-based methods in this programme of research to help to tackle community level challenges around substance use and intergenerational trauma, seeking to break cycles of silence and address stigma around these health issues.

Addressing these challenges requires an innovative approach. Arts-based programmes have shown promise in empowering people, fostering self-esteem and reshaping attitudes towards substance use. While difficulties persist in better understanding and developing effective interventions for substance use and trauma, arts-based approaches offer a pathway for emotional expression, resilience-building and personal growth. The ‘Amplify’ offers an opportunity to share and reflect on our learning from our recent research programme, which was collaboratively conceived by Queen’s Communities and Place (QCAP), our community partner the Market Development Association, and the local community in the Market in South Belfast in response to the key ‘place-based’ challenges outlined. The programme used arts-based approaches to amplify community voice, recognising the importance of culture in responding to important public health issues. It is hoped that the methods and learning highlighted in ‘Amplify’ have relevance and reach within other communities who face their own place-based challenges.

A resident from the Market area commented:

“We took part in the Tapestry project because we wanted our community to do something about substance use and trauma and we wanted to play our part in this. We can either sleep-walk through these issues and watch as they get worse, or we can come together to confront them and do something about it, and that’s what we did.

We had many laughs along the way, we also had hard moments too, where people in our group opened up and shared some of the most difficult moments of their life. In a way we rediscovered our community and now we see it in ways we hadn’t before. The impact it has had on us and our people has been incredible. Taking part in the group and using the creative methods in the Amplify toolkit helped to make this happen.

We know the power of speaking up and sharing our stories; it helps break generational cycles and it builds human connection. We’ve seen this happen in our group.

Now we want you to be able to have the same experience in your community. So, we encourage you to pick the Amplify toolkit up, use it and let it guide you to run an arts-based project in your community that challenges local health issues that your people face.

Share your stories, build your connections and break your cycles.”