Sharing the learning during Intergenerational Week
This is the first of five blogs we will be sharing throughout #IntergenerationalWeek, focusing on Quality Street. Stay tuned across the week as we explore the four C’s – COMMUNITY, CONNECTION, CONTINUITY AND CREATIVITY.
Introduction to Quality Street
Magic Me has been running intergenerational arts projects for over 30 years and gathered a wealth of evidence of their benefit. We recently completed a thorough evaluation of Quality Street; a two year project (2018 – 2020) funded by L&Q Foundation.
The project looked to involve people of at least three generations (children, younger and older adults) in and around Leyton. Key to the project was creating a greater sense of community, connecting local people and organisations and bringing the benefits of artist-led creative activity to primary aged pupils and older people living in care settings. The second year of the project was dramatically affected by the Covid-19 pandemic but plans were adapted and changed and the core goals of the project were still achieved. For example “‘people of all ages feel part of their community and create artworks/events that celebrate their local area and the people who live there” – over the course of the week we will demonstrate in these posts how we achieved that!
At the heart of the project was George Mitchell Primary School. Pupils and staff worked with residents from two Extra Care Schemes managed by L&Q Housing (Albany Court and Glebelands) and a consortium of local partners including Leyton Orient Trust and the Seddon Centre. Quality Street aimed to create an intergenerational hub at the school through street festivals, regular creative workshops and long-term partnerships with individuals and organisations.
My favourite part of the project was two generations coming together and having things in common..
Older Participant
You can find out about each individual project here
Building cohesive communities and maintaining intergenerational connections will be vital in our way out of the pandemic – if you can help us with a donation please click here