Inside Out connected Care Professionals in three care homes in Waltham Forest with Magic Me artists from March – July 2021.
Pooling knowledge, skills and expertise, care staff and artists worked together, over zoom, phone calls and through distanced visits, to understand the unique challenges care homes faced in Spring/Summer 2021 and develop creative activities to benefit the residents and staff during this time.
The Covid 19 pandemic has presented new challenges to all of us and these teams of artists and care staff found new ways of tackling particular challenges faced by care homes, and found ways to collaborate together when they could not be in the same room. They worked together to identify a central question relevant to their care home that guided and inspired the activity design and creative experiments:
“How can we create a sense of occasion across units, whilst taking care to include residents who prefer to stay in their rooms?”
“How can we create activities and events that can be carried out in a covid-safe way? That bring variety and connection to the residents’ lives?”
“How can we create group euphoria?”
Creative activities and outputs were wide ranging and included:
- A mobile, carnival-inspired, activity trolley on wheels, accessible for residents who preferred to stay in their rooms, alongside use in communal spaces.
- A listening and recording arcade for residents and staff to record their voices, singing and stories.
- Scrap books that celebrated residents past and present.
- Bread tasting activities to elicit memories, tell stories and start conversations.
Read more about the project and our learning here.
Inside Out Collaborators
Artists Chuck Blue Lowry and Paula Varjack with care staff from George Mason Lodge, Leytonstone
Artist Georgia Akbar with care staff from Alliston Road Care Home, Walthamstow
Artists Ishwari Bhalerao & Leonie Rousham (Kneed) with care staff from Mapleton Road Care Home, Chingford
Inside Out 2021 funders
