Creative Journeys Report 2019

58 Creative Journeys 4.7 The care context The care home context was a mediating factor in the success or otherwise of participatory arts and the potential impact on the social relationships of residents. This included practicalities and preparation, both in terms of planning and logistics of delivering sessions as well as preparing for the nature of the care home setting and the nature of the residents. It also included the care home capacity in terms of staff time and ability to engage in participatory arts with the residents, and culture in terms of supporting and promoting participatory arts and social relationships more generally. 4.7.1 Practicalities and preparation The practicalities and preparation around the planning and logistics, but also in terms of preparing for the nature of the care setting and the nature of the residents, was found to be particularly important in delivering participatory arts activities across both stage one and stage two of the research. In the stage one case studies, from the outset arts facilitators paid particular attention to planning their activities with care managers, activities coordinators and the broader care staff group where possible. Meetings took place before the arts programmes started to discuss where and when the session would take place, how they would be delivered in terms of the arts organisation approach, how the arts facilitator would work with the activities coordinator and other staff members in terms of general communications and the support they would need during the sessions, which residents would most likely benefit from the programme, any particular additional needs or preferences of the residents, and any questions or concerns the care homes might have. In addition, Sinfonia Viva with Orchestras Live ran a session solely for the staff members of the four care homes taking part in the programme so that the staff could experience what the residents would go through and better understand the participatory approach before deciding which residents might benefit and discussing any concerns. This was reported in interviews as being a hugely eye-opening opportunity for the staff. Actually, very quickly, I found that I was joining in with everybody, and actually, it was really, really liberating, so that made me feel quite excited, because I could then put myself in the shoes of others, and think, “Well, actually, if they can do that for me, then they can pretty much reach out to anybody”… I think that definitely was, for everybody, an eye-opening moment on how powerful this could be, because we all came together. (Stage one care manager) Arts facilitators in particular commented on the need to hold a debrief at the end of sessions – ideally with activities coordinators – in order to reflect on each session, any issues that came up for particular individuals, and discuss any improvements for the next session. For this reason in part, it was useful to have the same staff member (usually an activities coordinator) at each session so that they understood the approach and were able to monitor the progression of the residents throughout. However, this was not always possible, with some staff members attending one-off sessions and not fully engaging and in some cases being disruptive. Attention to these relationships before activities began, debriefing after sessions and planning endings were essential components of ensuring that the activities were co-owned and provided more likelihood that some form of embedding either activities or ways of working creatively with residents would endure once the funded activities finished.