What is Boredom Buster? 

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In early 2020, UHBW worked with Culture Weston and members of the NHS National Performance Advisory Group for Arts, Design and Heritage in Hospitals to create ‘Boredom Buster: Summer Annual’. Devised by UHBW Arts Programme Director, Anna Farthing, as a response to restrictions in hospital visiting, this 48 page tabloid style publication is filled with arts and health activities that are proven to alleviate isolation, anxiety, and banish boredom.

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Following the brilliantly positive reception to Boredom Buster: Summer Annual, the team produced Boredom Buster: Volume Two and are currently collating a third edition with teenagers and young adults in mind.

 

To date, close to 65,000 copies of the first two editions of Boredom Buster have been distributed to over 40 Trusts and healthcare settings across the UK. Patients, staff and people in isolation have appreciated engaging with this dose of creativity.

 

Who has contributed to Boredom Buster so far? 

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Boredom Buster was a pioneering collaborative project between the arts and culture sector, hospital arts teams and participatory arts professionals. It was a huge collaborative effort that included a wealth of contributions from some well known creative industry professionals including Antony Gormley, Martin Parr, Sarah Hickson, David Dimbleby, Jeremy Deller, Mark Ravenhill, Patrick Gale, Kalpna Woolf, Luke Jerram, Wayne McGregor, Manoj Malde, Dr Phil Hammond. The compilation was informed by the work of Dr Lizzie Burns, founder of the ‘Anti-boredom Campaign’

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What’s inside Boredom Buster? 

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Packed with articles, activities and images, Boredom Buster touches on a huge range of topics including history, art, science, poetry, writing, photography, fashion, dance, travel, food, outdoors and wellbeing. And of course, music.

 

All that is required to engage with Boredom Buster is a pen. With this you can play travel games, trace around your fingers, design your dream garden with help from Chelsea Flower Show designer Manoj Malde, or try your hand at creative writing with tips from novelist Patrick Gale or UHBW Poet in Residence Beth Calverley. Even without a pen, you can read the larger than average font, try out the verbal games, read aloud from Mark Ravenhill’s playlet, fold an origami heart, create your own ‘zine’ or tear out Antony Gormley’s string of paper figures. 

 

Each single copy can be named for infection control purposes.