Are you interested in London’s hidden stories? Then CoolTan Arts’ unique guided walks are for you. A cultural arts walk through the Borough of Southwark, from Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill to Tate Modern, that uses art, humour, architecture and local history to promote physical and mental well being.

CoolTan Arts runs a walk every third Saturday of the month, each with a different topic.

Walkers meet at 12noon at the main entrance of Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, SE5 8AX.

Upcoming dates:

20 February 2010 – CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle – Gay History, Love

6 March 2010 – CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle – International Women’s Day

17 April 2010 – CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle – You Read It Here First

15 May 2010 – CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle – Sociability, Science and Sanity

19 June 2010 – CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle – Summer Solstice Midnight Walk

21 August 2010 – CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle – Family Treasure Hunt/Quiz

CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle

Gay History Walk

Date: Saturday 20 February 2010

Start: 12noon, Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill

Did you know that London’s first gay disco was in Camberwell? (The Father Red Cap)

Or that Brixton Gay squatters / Brixton Radical Faeries in the 1970s set up the UK’s first gay centre in Brixton and a series of nearby squatted houses?

Sashay around South London with CoolTan Arts’ Largactyl Shuffle and find out 101 little-known facts about London’s most under-cover borough.

It’s LGBT history month in February, which celebrates the lives and achievements of the LGBT community, its diversity and that of the society as a whole.

Have fun, meet new people, gain new skills!

CoolTan Arts will run free arts and multimedia workshops open to all Southwark residents over 19.

Places are allocated on a first-come first-served basis. Workshops start from March and run until July 2010, and Southwark residents can attend one course of 10 hours.

To make a booking, please return the enrolment form to CoolTan Arts, along with a deposit of £10 (unemployed) or £20 (employed). Cheques need to be made payable to CoolTan Arts and will be returned upon completion of the course. Tuition is free but materials re not included.

Self Advocacy Training starts February – click here for details!

By Liz Scott

The Largactyl Shuffle, one of London’s Top Ten Walks as voted by Timeout magazine, took to the streets of Southwark on Saturday 21^st November with an All Saint’s Day theme. Run by CoolTan Arts, the walk is as much of a journey into Southwark’s past as a celebration of mental well-being and how this can be promoted through art, exercise and history.

The walk takes its name from the side effects caused by an anti-psychotic drug used to treat mental illness. Southwark has a legacy of mental health and the starting point for the walk was Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill, the first purpose-built psychiatric hospital for treatment and research.

Thank you to everyone who applied for this post.  Due to the volume of applications we received we were only able to reply to candidates who were selected for interview.

CoolTan Arts is looking for volunteers to provide general IT support which is crucial for the smooth running of the office. Duties include: ensuring back up of computer systems and data, general maintenance relating to hardware and software, creating strategies and advising staff on efficient IT use, helping to obtain funding for IT resources, informing staff or volunteers of best practice IT, any ad hoc duties. If you are interested, please contact us at volunteers@cooltanarts.org.uk or 020 7701 2696.

Download a pdf copy of CoolTan’s monthly newsletter.

March E-Bulletin

In this podcast Kathrin Kirrmann gives details of the major events of 2009.

Cooltan Arts runs web design, web construction and web authoring workshops, and has created many live websites on the Internet. Below are a list of links to some of the websites that have been made.

Poetry, Art and Writing on the blog at:

• a funny farm

Women only digital arts technology workshop website

• women make digita lart

Sound and Poetry and Animation website

• poetry at your finger tips

Online animations and video clips website

• the arch developers

Thursdays 1pm – 3pm

New tutor Tom will help you learn how to shoot, cut, edit and prepare a film.

Mondays 5.30pm – 7.30pm

• Want to develop your rhythm and percussion skills?
• Want to play around with rhythm and have fun?
• Want to take a broad view of ‘World rhythm’?
• Want to have a go at composing rhythm in a group?
• Keen to improvise!

If the answer is ‘yes’, these workshops could be for you.

Following the great success of his drumming workshops during the summer school, Steve Barbe is back to lead a session of experimental percussion on Monday evenings

Brand new workshop!

Tuesdays 1 – 3pm.

Cooltan is pleased to announce the first issue of our Brainwave Magazine, use the link below to download.

Brainwave Magazine 1

A short film on the joys of gardening by CoolTan participant William Ball.

Here are some images from the latest exhibition in our gallery space, cats, and our relationships with them as pets, as friends, as symbols. People’s impressions of cats made into artworks.

[Show as slideshow]

Sculptures about mental health, by people who experience mental health issues.
Work appearing  in the strangest places! Part of Camberwell Arts Festival and the CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle.

Unveiling: Saturday 14th June, 11am. The Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 Open through the summer.

Temporary sculptures produced by CoolTan artists are going to be unveiled on Saturday 14th June outside the main entrance to the Institute of Psychiatry. They will be on display throughout the summer.

CoolTan works to challenge stigma and prejudice around mental illness. These sculptures by CoolTan members are a bold physical representation of a subject usually invisible.