The Monthly talks to poet writer and academic, Shelley Tracey, about being a recipient of a Major Artist Award – Part 4 – Facilitating a community of writers

There is one further aspect you will be looking into?

I want to look into the relationship between the arts and well-being. I am a qualified Poetry Therapy Practitioner, and I have been applying some of the principles and practises of Poetry Therapy to my work as a facilitator for the last 12 years or so. Poetry Therapy activities can take place anywhere along a continuum, from personal development to working in a mental health setting. I’m focusing in this project on personal development, creativity and self-expression.

In 2023, I facilitated some sessions on poetry therapy for the Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts Festival at the Crescent Arts Centre. There was a lot of interest, and as a result I set up the Northern Ireland Poetry Therapy Interest Group. It’s an initiative of the Irish Poetry Therapy Network, of which I am a member.

The NI Poetry Therapy Interest group offers creativity workshops at The MAC, and these have been taking place for about a year and a half. The workshops are attended by artists and writers, as well as other people who are interested in creativity along with therapists,  musicians and dancers. In fact pretty much anyone who wants some space to develop their creative practice can attend. If you are interested in taking part in a workshop, email me at shelleyztracey@gmail.com

You have been working diligently at your areas of work for some time. Would it be reasonable to say that there is a fair bit of recognition for your work recently?

There is a sense in your question that it’s been a lot of hard work; I would say that working and engaging creatively, working at being creative and exploring creativity, isn’t necessarily hard work for me. I enjoy the work that I do. I must admit that there have disheartening elements to working in the arts over the years, including lack of funding and often lack of recognition.  Northern Ireland has such a low per capita funding of the arts which then fosters the notion that you as an artist should expect to work for free or for a low fee. So the recognition of my work by this award is really heartening.

Yes I have to work hard, and I have to graft, but if I look at all my experiences in my working life and my career, I have always felt fortunate to be part of a creative community, and to have opportunities to include others in this community. I must say that supporting people in their creative practice, working with people to explore creativity, or being creative, that has always been an absolute joy to me.