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Simon’s Guide for YSJ students

We are pleased to be able to publish online a guide for York St John University students working with Converge, written by Simon Bolley who’s hardwork and devotion to developing the music courses Converge offers, made him a natural choice for researching and writing this guide.

 

Annual Report 2010-11

Over the academic year 2010-11 Converge offered courses in theatre, dance, music, fine art and writing poetry. We have also supported Out of Character and the Communitas choir. 70 people who use mental health services accessed our courses; we involved 25 university students and provided 302 hours of teaching. This annual report details course attendance and retention, presents feedback from Converge students and University students and looks at the changes we wish to make in the coming year.

Summer School 2010

Converge Theatre Summer School 2010, was a 3 day event which brought together new and existing Converge students to learn about theatre together at York St John University. The event culminated in a collaborative performance by the theatre companies, One in Four & Out of Character.

[issuu width=420 height=297 backgroundColor=%23222222 documentId=111221152720-c5bab150ccc7467382daa0f81ee2e097 name=converge_annual_report_academic_year_2010-11 username=convergeyork tag=annual%20report unit=px id=68c959d2-711e-c08e-13ff-15d0c49a1003 v=2] Theatre Summer School Evaluation report 2010

Enterprise, excellence and employability

Delivering educational opportunities in the arts for people with mental health problems, established in 2008 Converge is a unique collaboration between the North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (NYYPCT) and York St John University (YSJU).Adapting, improving and leading in an increasingly challenging economic climate, Converge seeks to develop symbiotic projects and partnerships to harness new thinking and best practice in the delivery of high quality arts education for mental health users and work-experience for university students.Building on our access to students and tutors and the established relationship we have with the NYYPCT, we are seeking to contract with mental health service providers and commissioners who will buy our courses, which we will then deliver to people who use mental health services.Securing contracts and obtaining grant funding where appropriate, our aim is to develop Converge into an independent, self-sustaining social enterprise generating income through contracts with external customers.

Our Aims:

  • Offer mental health service providers good quality and good value educational opportunities for their clients.
  • Provide a means through which undergraduate and postgraduate YSJU students can fulfil their module requirements in community, applied or work-based modules and develop skills and experiences that will prepare them for work.
  • Encourage, support and develop the creative potential of both YSJU students and course participants.
  • Work alongside mental health professionals and other partners to fulfil our aims.
  • Conduct practice-based research, impact studies and evaluations.
  • Support the development of further innovations in this field.

Founded by Senior Lecturer York St John University Nick Rowe and Theatre Practitioner Gemma Alldred the Executive Board of Converge is drawn from a highly experienced and creative body of individuals, including, people who use health services and practitioners; academic, education and business professionals who oversee our current strategy and help steer our future development.The current high quality course work saw the founding of York based Out of Character Theatre Company in 2009.If you would like to know more about our work and research, wish to participate or buy in courses, please contact us for further information.