Creative Journeys Report 2019

Creative Journeys 59 These meetings functioned to promote strong communication and positive working relationships between the arts organisations and the care homes, which was identified as a key factor in negotiating practicalities and preparation. Activities coordinators were key here, which will be discussed further in the next section on care home capacity and culture. As well as promoting and supporting the arts programme within the home, they were vital in orchestrating the logistics and liaising with the wider care staff to ensure all the residents arrived at the sessions. The importance of negotiating relationships between artists, staff and residents was also reaffirmed in the stage two arts organisation focus group. The staff have been very supportive. When we’ve come, even if there have been issues, they’ve made sure that people are there and that we’ve started pretty much always on time… the Activities Coordinator has really just set it up beautifully. (Stage one arts facilitator) If you kick off with a manager and an activities coordinator who are both good…and the converse is good [it goes well] / And trying to make that a dialogue, so you’re not necessarily going in with everything set, but there is space for them to feel like they’ve got some voice in it as well, I think it’s probably quite important actually. (Arts organisations focus group) In all of the homes in stage one, residents had a range of capacities that had to be carefully considered by arts facilitators to ensure they had a positive experience of the arts activities. Regular and frequent attendance by residents at sessions meant they got more out of it, but this was not always feasible. In the stage two arts organisations focus group, the artists reiterated that having the same residents at each session was an important enabler for positive impacts on relationships. In stage one, cognitive impairment affected the way in which some residents engaged with the activities: many of these residents enjoyed the arts in the moment, and were sometimes observed to be more creative than residents without such impairment; but unfortunately memory could be a barrier to building sustainable relationships as some had forgotten about their involvement in the arts by the end of the day. It was important for the arts facilitators to be aware of this for planning continued activities or building on activities across sessions in order to ensure inclusivity. Moreover, it was important for the arts facilitators to know about any challenging behaviours they might face with the residents based on their particular condition or capacity, whether this was cognitive or physical. Related to this, in the stage two survey the capacity of residents was identified as the joint top barrier to providing arts activities, alongside funding. As discussed with regards to the approach of the facilitator, the success of the session was also dependent on effective preparation and research based on the interests or nature of the group to ensure that the activities were meaningful and appropriate, and also the appropriate and effective use of resources. This included each session and the programme overall being structured and well-organised by the arts organisations, which not only helped them to run smoothly but also helped to manage expectations and preparedness of both residents and staff at the care homes, who frequently reported in interviews that they were unsure, anxious, resistant and dubious to begin with. The arts organisations took different approaches to this; for example, Sinfonia Viva with Orchestras Live held the staff only session, while Green Candle introduced a range of activities early on in the programme to help residents and staff overcome their “fear of the unknown” and Age Exchange maintained regular communications with the activities coordinator and care manager throughout.