Churchill Fellows Debbie Brittain and Alex Raineri first met at the 2023 Churchill Fellows onboarding event. Although their professional worlds are very different – Debbie works in arts and health at Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), while Alex is a pianist and composer – they quickly discovered common ground in the power of the arts to connect, inspire and support people.
That connection eventually led to Alex joining Debbie’s Art of Wellness program, a six-week initiative developed for veterans through Debbie’s Arts and Health role at QAGOMA.
The program came about after a Commissioner from the 2024 Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide and a veteran reached out to Debbie after reading her Churchill Fellowship report. They were interested in better psychosocial (non-clinical) support for veterans, particularly as they transition from military service into civilian life.
Debbie’s Fellowship had investigated global best practice museum programs sustaining the wellbeing of people with dementia. The experience sharpened her focus on innovative approaches to psychosocial wellbeing and gave her the confidence to explore how the arts could support veterans.
“I also believe my Fellowship experience provided a deeper appreciation of collaboration and knowledge exchange, which prompted me to work with Alex using novel approaches,” Debbie says.
When veterans expressed an interest in exploring abstract art, Debbie saw an opportunity to bring together visual art and live music. She invited Alex to collaborate, with a concept in which veterans would write down their personal responses to an abstract artwork – through descriptive words, a short story or sensory observations – and Alex would transform each interpretation into a short, improvised piano performance.
For Alex, the project was a natural meeting point between his own creative practice and the ideas he had explored through his Fellowship research into performance practices embodied within contemporary art music.
“A focal point of my own Fellowship research was searching for and articulating concrete tangible meanings within abstract contemporary music,” Alex says. “To devise original improvised responses to creative prompts from the participants made this project a beautiful meeting point of my own original expression with the creative energy of the cohort.”
The session featuring Alex’s live piano improvisations became a particular highlight of the six-week program. Debbie received incredibly positive feedback from participants, including one veteran who told her that her mind had stopped racing during Alex’s performance – something she had not experienced for a long time.
“This made me appreciate the power of the creative arts in supporting mental health challenges. It was extremely validating to know the program was having a positive wellbeing impact,” Debbie says.
For Alex, the experience demonstrated the potential of bringing his creative practice into spaces beyond traditional performance.
“I’m grateful to Deb for inviting and trusting me to bring my creative practice to a project wherein my art held space for and encouraged wellbeing and imaginative thinking and listening.”
The collaboration also highlighted something Debbie believes is one of the strengths of the Churchill Fellowship community: the opportunity to connect with people working in the same, but also completely different fields and discover what can happen when their expertise comes together.
“After experiencing so much reciprocal generosity during my Fellowship, I learnt to trust in fostering interchange with likeminded colleagues. This definitely gave me the confidence to reach out to Alex with my Art of Wellness idea.”
And for Alex, the value of the Fellowship extended beyond the research itself, creating a community of people whose work could spark unexpected connections.
“I’m so grateful to the Churchill Fellowship Trust for facilitating not just the opportunity to pursue my own research abroad in the field of ‘performance practices embodied within contemporary art music’, but I’m also grateful to have been welcomed into a community of incredible individuals that comprise my fellowship cohort, each doing impactful and inspiring work in our various fields.”
For Debbie, the experience reinforced the potential of Fellows to create meaningful change when they share their knowledge and expertise.
“This collaboration made me realise that two Fellows with complementary approaches and different expertise are well placed to create meaningful impact. Given the quality of colleagues within the Churchill Fellow community, it makes sense to work together.”
What began with a conversation between two Fellows at a Fellowship onboarding event has become a powerful example of what can happen when the Churchill Fellowship community extends beyond individual research projects – connecting people, ideas and disciplines to create new possibilities.
For the veterans who took part, the hope is simple: to leave feeling “more relaxed, energised by connecting with peers and confident to embrace new situations and different perspectives.”
You can find out more here.