The aim of this project at Tilery primary in Stockton-on-Tees has been to establish a research-guided community arts and health initiative for the promotion of emotional literacy and emotional health amongst children and the local community of St. Ann’s, (which is increasingly diverse in its ethnic composition). In 2008 a group of Tilery staff and parents attended the Southwick (Sunderland) Catch the Light lanterns event. Southwick school made a special lantern to lead the first Tilery procession in 2009, as a tangible and powerfully symbolic message of passing on community knowledge. CMH Fellow Mike White’s Beacon Research Fellowship in 2011 will be used to develop a long-term strategy for researching arts in health practice through Tilery. Mike White and CMH’s associate artist Mary Robson will work alongside the school to look at the role of creativity in the social and emotional development of children, and what effect in turn it can have on the delivery of the curriculum. The inspiration and content of this work will be drawn from the local history of the area and from the heritage of local people and their diverse cultural backgrounds. They want to initiate reflective practice in the school and community to inform the research, commencing with participatory documentation of the 2011 lanterns procession.