I passionately believe that just because someone lives in a care home they don’t stop being entitled to high quality arts and culture, or to a participative experience that is more than just something to pass the time.
Arists' Residencies in Care Homes: Setting a new standard for creative care
Care home staff and the UK’s most innovative theatre and dance companies working together to embed creativity in care homes
Collaborating with internationally recognised theatre-makers
We connected four Excelcare Essex homes with Gecko, an award winning physical theatre company, curious directive, an internationally touring theatre company exploring science topics, New Adventures, an iconic dance-theatre company, and Fevered Sleep, a company making work in theatre and dance, film, installation, print and digital art.
Building a unique arts programme for each care home
Following a getting-to-know-you R&D phase, the artists devised a tailored programme of workshops, performances, and staff training sessions for each home. Residents enjoyed dance, movement, touch, stimulation, textiles, music, performance, film, virtual reality, digital storytelling, science experiments, and photography. Each residency was unique, designed around the specific needs and histories of the residents. Some homes opted for filmmaking with shared premieres and screenings; some installed soundscapes and sensory rooms. One resident had happy memories of sailing in her youth: artists created for her a room filled with sounds and images of the ocean that was shared with friends and others.
-
-
The important thing, initially, is to get to know those people as people, that home as a home. What happens, what they’re interested in, that’s much more important [than your artistic endeavour]…building the relationship with everyone in the care home – staff, residents, families, and your team.
-
We can do the basic stuff… But what I’ve found with this… was the impact it has had on everybody… It was art to another level.
Evidence-based excellence: the Dare To Imagine report
ARCH was fully evaluated by a research team at Anglia Ruskin University, led by Professor Hilary Bungy and Professor Carol Munn-Giddings, with Dr Ceri Wilson and Anna Dadswell. Download their report Dare to Imagine, a detailed look at the processes and outcomes of the project.
Artists Residencies in Care Homes was a 2019-2023 project, developed and supported through local authority funding (Essex County Council) partnership working, particularly Excelcare, and Trusts & Foundation funding, particularly the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Learn more about how to support our work here.