Creative Journeys Report 2019

Creative Journeys 73 6.1 What is it about participatory arts that enhances social bonding and social connectedness? Whilst data from each stage of the research highlighted the ways in which participatory art activities can contribute to building relationships, these can best be illustrated from the in-depth case study data. It is important to note that whilst the case study component of the research involved different participatory arts activities we were not looking to see if one was more effective than another in building relationships, rather for the similarities in delivery and creativity. Descriptions of the sessions delivered by the arts organisations observed in this study were presented in the findings, and the three arts organisations involved in the case studies used different art forms: music, dance, and reminiscence arts which each involve an element of performance. For Crawford et al. (2015) “The performing arts, like persons, are located within the living contexts of shared, culturally situated, relational space and time” (p.84). That is at their core, performing arts are artistic ways of being in a relationship with others, and are therefore by their nature, relational. The participation and performance elements of the activities distinguishes them from the visual arts and we therefore draw on only on the wider literature pertaining to these qualities. All the arts activities involved bringing together people from different parts of the home into one location for a common and shared purpose – not only to interact with each other but also to be creative together. In each of the case study data there was also three further common factors: a structured activity, a spatial dimension and the opportunity to do something potentially new, challenging and stimulating. Central to the findings was the importance of active participant involvement in the creative process with others in a group , and the joint learning that this engenders. This distinguishes involvement in a participatory arts activity over time and with a shared purpose from arts and craft sessions, painting and drawing and other similar activities that may take place in residential care settings that bring residents together around a table. The latter tend to focus on the individual ‘making and doing’ whereas the external arts organisations, though mindful of individual needs, focused on the group experience. Both residents and staff gave examples of learning new skills in the findings with interestingly some staff comments referring to new relational skills. Again this distinguishes the case study activities from for example - listening to music when outside performers come to the home or ‘sing-along’ sessions to familiar songs that would not necessarily involve a learning experience, and depending on the degree of engagement with the activity may not be active or participatory. This is not to suggest the latter are not important but rather are likely to have significantly less impact on relationship building. Whilst the aesthetic experience of being creative, and group processes of working together and learning with each other contribute to the relationship building, there are factors specific to the arts which may enhance this impact. In the following sections we discuss how the arts may enhance relationships through the lens of evolutionary and social psychology. Each case study featured a different arts activity, and the ‘arts’ are not homogenous but are multidimensional, and operate on physical, emotional, psychological and social levels through different pathways. However, there are commonalities across human physiological and emotional responses to different art forms, and also the approaches to the delivery of the activities which can help to explain how these participatory performing arts operated to enhance bonding and social connectedness. It also highlights the ways in which one art form may enhance another.