A NUMBER of community based projects for older people across the North West are set to benefit from a funding boost of £160,000.
The Arts and Older People Programme provides opportunities for people to engage with the arts, promoting positive mental health and well-being and helping to tackle issues like loneliness and isolation affecting our older citizens.
The workshops will encourage carers, family members and staff to join-in with older residents and live musicians, using percussion instruments, singing, gentle dancing, reminiscence, new technology to create new material.
The North West projects supported by the Arts & Older People Programme this year, include:
- Waterside Theatre Company Ltd, Telling Tales Theatre Company, Derry will deliver workshops for 26 weeks incorporating dance and movement, visual arts, creative writing and technical theatre.
- Live Music Now (LMN), Sharing through Songs of the People, Limavady will bring to life the musical memories of the older generation to create new ‘songs of the people’, and develop a music toolkit for care staff.
- West Bann Development, Voice of I’m-Age, Coleraine will provide a 10 week creative art course which will include outdoor art inspired by streetscape of Coleraine, the rudiments of pencil drawing and studies in ink and pen, development to paint, one care home session reminiscing through arts and crafts and designing one piece for exhibition.
- Big Telly Theatre Company, GlenFest, Portstewart will explore, record and share farmers’ stories and celebrate their way of life. A festival will focus on the differences between the lives of older men in Coleraine and Limavady.
- EastSide Arts, Re-Generations, Belfast will deliver a 12 week project, aimed at breaking down isolation, loneliness and promoting well-being amongst local older residents. A 10 week dance programme will be held.
- Lisnafin/Ardnalee/Trust Cross-Community Development Association, Strabane memories in ceramics, Strabane will create ceramic pieces which will reflect times gone by in their community. An exhibition will be held in the community.
- Derry City and Strabane District Council, Arts for the Third Age, Music to Your Ears, Strabane will engage older people in music making and song writing, delivering a programme of engaging events for participants both rural and urban.
Lorraine Calderwood, Community Development Officer at the Arts Council, explained how the Arts and Older People’s Programme is continuing to making a huge difference to people’s lives, saying;
“The links between engagement in the arts and improved personal wellbeing are now well established. The Arts Council’s Arts & Older People Programme has evidenced just how successful the arts are in making a positive impact on our older people. Indeed all of the organisations awarded funding to date, tackle isolation and social exclusion. With the help of artists these projects give a much needed voice to our older citizens through high quality arts interventions.
The latest tranche of funding is focused on helping carers and those managing care workers to see the benefits of arts programming for older people. This year we are hosting an ‘Art of Caring’ Conference in April 2017 to highlight the evidence and good practice in this area”.
The Arts and Older People’s Programme is a pioneering, Northern Ireland-wide programme established in partnership initially with Atlantic Philanthropies and subsequently the Public Health Agency and the Baring Foundation. The aim was to increase opportunities for older people to actively engage in the arts. It is about challenging perceptions of what it means to be an older person, providing opportunities to participate in a full range of creative activities.
The original Arts & Older People Programme was set up in 2010 to increase opportunities for older people to engage with the arts. Since then over 19,000 older people have participated in a variety of projects, from ceramics to dance and music.
