Funding Announcement
Open Eye Gallery are proud to announce that in 2021, our Chair of Trustees Lindsey Fryer was awarded the Engage Lifetime Achievement Award at the tenth annual Marsh Awards for Excellence in Gallery Education. We are delighted that Lindsey is kindly gifting the £500 prize to support Sam Batley to develop creative activities with residents of Damien John Kelly House (DJKH).
Damien John Kelly house is a recovery living centre in Wavertree, Liverpool whose recovery ethos is based in art, sport and culture. Each of these can help us realise new parts of ourselves, shared within a community that builds on values of willingness, open mindedness and honesty.
Creative groups led by Sam emerged out of the first lockdown; its foundation lies in photography, painting, film and creative writing. This has grown into a collective called the ‘One Day At A Time Boys’ and forms an integral part of the creative culture at Damien John Kelly House.
Sam himself is in recovery and a former resident of DJKH, he came to Liverpool in September 2019. Shortly after arriving Sam began volunteering at Open Eye Gallery where the idea of socially engaged art was introduced. Since then Sam and the boys have gone on to make an award winning film project Three Bullmastiffs in a Corner Kitchen, exhibited on OEG’s exterior wall and had a group show at Dead Pigeon Gallery. A solid creative culture has been created within DJKH and a space has been made for creativity to exist in. The recovery element that this brings is one of community, esteem and worth.
Lindsey Fryer said:
‘Supporting the development of knowledge and skills in the arts sector has been at the core of my work for over thirty five years. It is with great pleasure that I donate the fund for my Lifetime Achievement Award from the Marsh Award for Excellence in Gallery Education and Engage to a creative project devised by young photographer Sam Batley. Sam’s project encourages people to explore their world through photography, the most democratic of mediums that can give people a platform to explore what is important to them.’
Sam Batley said:
‘I’m grateful to Lindsey Fryer for recognising the work that we have been doing at DJK and awarding the funding to us, it has allowed us to continue to build upon the creative culture we have in the house”
PJ Smith, Recovery Lead at Damien John Kelly House said:
‘Damien John Kelly House is an abstinence based, recovery living centre for adult males. Our recovery ethos is based around the arts, sport and culture. So, as well as talking therapies where we get to join up the dots of our early life experiences, and figure out why we act/think/feel the way we do, we also encourage: photography, creative writing, acting, cycling, boxing, circuit training, theatre visits, attendance at gigs and spoken word events, engagement in community activities.
We aim to do everything together, as it’s proven that more progress can be made in recovery whilst in community than when you’re trying to do it alone. Residents who picked up, and ran, with the creative aspect of our program have improved their sense of connectedness, purpose and belonging.
Art is for everyone. People in recovery are resourceful, gifted and some of the most talented people I’ve ever met. Clarity is under-rated. Not anymore, if we’ve got anything to do with it…’
Engage
Engage is the lead advocacy and training network for gallery education. We support arts educators, organisations, and artists to work together with communities in dynamic, open exchanges that give everyone the opportunity to learn and benefit from the arts. Find out more: https://engage.org/
