Excelcare celebrates its 30th year anniversary this year; thirty years of bringing residents, their families, staff and local communities together with a belief that together we are stronger and that through collaboration great things are possible. This artist residency is a wonderful example of such a collaboration

Ozzie Ertosun, CEO of Excelcare

The project will see each organisation paired with a care home run by Excelcare in either Maldon, Harwich, Chigwell or Colchester.  Over the three years of the project the arts organisations will work with their chosen care partner to develop and test ideas in the first year, deliver the residencies in the second year and then in the third and fourth year ensure that learning from the projects is disseminated and embedded in order to facilitate further artists/care home partnerships.

The ARCHE project is a key strand of Magic Me’s current and future strategic plans. Funding from players of the People’s Postcode Lottery has enabled the charity to develop projects for the east of England and ARCHE is the first major piece of work to result from this.  Funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation (with support from Essex County Council) ARCHE enables Magic Me’s strategic growth in the east of England, building relationships with key care providers and commissioners and locally based arts partners, curious directive and Gecko, and also brings into the mix two organisations with strong links to the east of England: New Adventures and Fevered Sleep.  As well as exploring new territory geographically the project enables Magic Me to take forward another key aim of supporting other arts organisations to create work in and for care homes, to help facilitate new relationships between arts organisations and care providers, and to raise expectations of what the arts can be and do in care homes.