Berwick Contemplative Arts CIC is a not-for-profit organisation working to support the body-mind wellbeing and creative flourishing of our community.
Berwick Contemplative Arts CIC is a not-for-profit social enterprise working to support the body-mind wellbeing and creative flourishing of our community.
Through a year-round programme of creative and contemplative activities – such as artistic workshops, yoga classes, musician-led drop-in spaces and meditation retreats, led by artists, therapists and contemplatives – we will establish safe spaces where creative and wellbeing skills are shared, creative expression is given the time and space to flourish, and participants are able to slow down, reflect and share their own experiences.
Founded at the beginning of 2024 by Jo Ladd, Ben Lewis and Tom Sykes, Berwick Contemplative Arts is a collaborative project focusing on the now well- researched, body-mind wellbeing benefits of creative and contemplative practices.
Collaboration and skill sharing is at the heart of what we do – this includes matching opportunities with local practitioners and artists skilled in providing a wide range of creative and wellbeing activities; as well as collaboration with the existing services and charities in and around Berwick-upon-Tweed, in order to strengthen the opportunities we, and they, can offer.
Our aim is to reach as diverse an audience as possible, with particular focus on those in our community who are hardly reached. We commit to growing with our community, being guided by a strong ‘bottom up’ ethos – taking suggestions and feedback from all those involved to design and provide a varied offering.
I moved to the area 12 years ago after a career in the NHS, education and the charity sectors. Originally working as part of the social work teams for Barnardo’s and Cheshire Homes, I was able to retrain as a Speech and Language Therapist in 1992.Working within the NHS and education I was involved in the setting up of Sure Start initiatives and developing services to meet the needs of families experiencing challenges. I feel it has been a privilege to work with children and adults with complex needs, mental health issues and neurodiversity.The opportunity to move into Higher Education as part of the team delivering undergraduate and masters programmes for speech and language therapy degrees meant I was able to extend my understanding of other person-centred teams as well playing a part in developing the therapists of the future.I decided to close my therapeutic career after a few years as Head of Therapy Services for a charity in order to pursue opportunities to train and develop artistic and contemplative practices.At present, I have a textile art practice and in 2019 I qualified as a yoga teacher.I met Ben and Tom through Ben’s bookshop and the Berwick Meditation Group. Extending my long-standing meditation and yoga practice as part of the group has resulted in me receiving support and encouragement in these areas.The development of Berwick Contemplative Arts CIC feels like a natural progression of our individual positive experiences within creative and contemplative practices. It also represents our ethos to share the same opportunities with others in our community.
I’ve spent much of my career working freelance as a graphic and web designer, alongside roles in marketing, admin and management within small businesses. Over the last 10, or so, years I have nurtured both a contemplative practice – meditation and yoga – as well as a creative practice – visual and sound art – most notably as an artist in residence at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield.I moved to Berwick in 2021 at the same time as opening Interesting Books + Zines – an independent bookshop and design studio on West Street, Berwick. Interesting Books + Zines embedded me in the creative and contemplative communities of Berwick, through the shop’s dedication to creative and contemplative publications, as well as events such as zine making workshops, author/artist talks, a weekly guided meditation session which I continue to run at 27 Art House in Berwick, and the art and book fair – ABZB – that I put on in Berwick in September 2022.With the shop’s closure at the end of 2023, I saw an opportunity to bring the creative and contemplative aspects of my life together in a community-focused, not-for-profit endeavour that would share creative skills, promote body-mind wellness and facilitate contemplative spaces, through workshops, classes, retreats and more in and around Berwick. In March 2024 Jo, Tom and myself set up Berwick Contemplative Arts CIC.
I have been part of the Berwick Meditation group (where I met Ben and Jo) since winter 2022, and have found the weekly experience of group meditation enormously supportive to my wellbeing, in and of itself, and in that it has supported my own individual daily meditation practice.I trained and worked as a therapist for 10 years, working therapeutically with individuals, couples and groups in a variety of settings.I moved the length of the country to Berwick 7 years ago (at the same time as ending my therapy practice), and since then I have concentrated on making music, writing my own songs and performing them live locally, as well as making studio recordings. I had not been an active musician until this relatively late stage in life, and I have run open mics in Berwick as a way of encouraging other adults to experiment musically.I have been supported in Berwick by the music community and the contemplative community. As a result, I have been flourishing creatively and in my general wellbeing. I want to be active in likewise supporting others through Berwick Contemplative Arts CIC.
