arts and homelessness international
Beth co-founded and currently co-chairs Arts and Homelessness International (the global network of arts and homelessness organisations). The network works to bring positive change to people, projects and policy in homelessness through arts and creativity. AHI focus on connecting and strengthening individual artists and projects and advocating for arts to be part of homelessness support and policy. They do this through international exchanges, events, research and training.
Half of the staff and Board are people who are or have been homeless, this ensures restructuring of power and collaboration are at the core of AHI.
Below are some examples of AHI’s work and international best practice.
Over the past ten years with Arts and Homelessness International, Beth has been involved with international exchanges to Brazil, Japan and North America, including conducting the first ever study on the arts and homelessness sector in the USA and Canada.
Beth used this internationally-gained knowledge to transform the way policy and strategy was being developed around homelessness and housing in Greater Manchester and continues to work with AHI to transform and adapt the organisation to the needs of the global community.
With colleagues at AHI, Beth co-designed the Jigsaw of Homeless support model, which identifies the various and interrelated needs that people who are homeless have and how our human right to access the arts and culture fits in. The model has been adopted by the Institute for Global Homelessness.
Image credit: Jez Green
Tokyo Street Poem, adapted by the Manchester Street Poem team on a knowledge exchange in Japan
Workshops during the North America arts and homelessness exchange in Montreal, Canada
Knowledge exchange between the UK and Brazil in Rio de Janeiro
Artwork in Seattle, USA created by homeless and unhoused artists working with Path With Art
The first international arts and homelessness summit in Manchester, UK
MyManchester photography and advocacy project at the launch of the Manchester Homelessness Partnership