mailout galleries and older people 27
FEATURE
Galleries engaging with Older People Case Study Gwynedd County Council in partnership with Bangor Museum & Art Gallery, Plas Maesincla Care Home and artist Eleri Jones
“Eleri made them feel that the work was important – this is different to what we’ve done before – they called it a class! Definitely different from making cards and the things we’ve done before” Linda, Care Home Staff, Plas Maesincla
Care Home Local authority run care home; majority of residents with dementia, some with learning difficulties. A team of enthusiastic care staff, all of whom see the benefit of residents being involved in creativity. This is the first gallery education project they have embarked on.
Intervention 7 core participants attended most of the sessions. Sessions (12 in total) ran from 9.30 – midday, twice per week. Some participants stayed for the duration, others left when they had completed a piece of work. The door always remained open and new participants were encouraged to join in any stage or just ‘observe’. There were two gallery visits to Bangor Museum & Art Gallery which served as starting point and inspiration for work at the home. Artist Eleri used a range of approaches to engage participants, including stencils, print making and painting.
The Impact Linda (carer) commented on the improvement of motor skills of participants and improved dexterity. Another key factor was enhanced communication skills; participants were talking frequently and fluidly about each other’s work. The group enjoyed the artist being there, they were happy to see her and more sociable with her and each other. A key element was improved decision making. At the start people were not able to chose between colours; but as the weeks went on they were making clear choices and decisions. In addition, family members were delighted with what their relatives were able to achieve “I didn’t know mam could make things like this”.
Each partnership consisted of a gallery and gallery education officer; an artist; group of older people; Older People Strategy Officer or Health and Well-Being Officer. Local authority officers identified groups of older people from a range of settings, including care homes and BME groups, the majority of whom had not visited galleries in the past or been involved in other cultural activities.
“She had only done painting by numbers, she didn’t know where to start” Carer
Three projects involved older people with dementia, which came with its own set of challenges.
“I’m learning about dementia – you a have a 5 minute conversation then it goes….learned to go with it. It all depends on the person – they are all so different.” Artist, Gwynedd project
Bangor University Dementia Care Services research department offered free dementia awareness training for Gwynedd project stakeholders which proved incredibly useful. This is something we would now strongly recommend for all projects involving people with dementia.
Project artists were chosen carefully. It proved difficult to find artists who had experience of working with older
people in the past, but the key criteria was that they were flexible and good communicators and who would adopt a flexible approach throughout. The artists were key to the success of all projects.
Key benefits: > Increased social interaction between older people within the groups
> Increased sense of well-being after realising they can be creative
> Long periods of focus and concentration when people with dementia, who normally have long periods of confusion, are engaged in a shared creative activity
> Expressions of enjoyment from participants
> Lifelong learning opportunities for older people, as well as carers (carers are beginning to visit galleries for their own enjoyment in their own time)
> Improved communication between generations, particularly project involving Alternative Learning group of young people
> Participants and carers enjoy being involved in a group activity that has a sense of purpose and outcome
> Tasks seem to focus residents, they become calmer when engaged in activity
> Older people have learned new IT skills working with young people > Increased sense of ownership of
gallery and museum settings by participants
> All groups, without exception, keen for sessions to continue beyond timescale of project
> Care home residents who do not normally get involved in activities, are attending sessions regularly and look forward to further sessions
In all cases local authorities are exploring ways of making this work sustainable. These projects have bought together galleries and Older People Strategy Departments together to create a more joined up way of tackling social isolation through creative projects. Indeed, many of the settings have located further funding to continue artist-led projects and it is hoped that further opportunities will be created as a result of engage Cymru pilot research work. a
Case studies from each of the six projects plus a full report will shortly be available on engage website W:
www.engage.org/olderpeople
During 2010–2011 engage Cymru will develop further projects with Merthyr Tydfil (Mentro Allan programme); Denbighshire County Council and Flintshire County Council. For more information contact Angela Rogers, engage Cymru Coordinator E:
cymru@engage.org T: 01834 870121
1
Building A Society for All Ages, Strategy for Older People (England) 2009
2 3
Wales Strategy for Older People (2008-2013)
Building A Society for All Ages, Strategy for Older People (England) 2009
4 5
Wales Strategy for Older People (2008-2013)
Baring Foundation report ‘Ageing Artfully : Older People and Professional Arts in the UK’ (2009)
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