Creative Journeys Report 2019

Creative Journeys 81 When we consider the wider community the findings provide an illustration of how participatory arts activities do have an impact on residents’ relationships with people coming into the care homes. However, there are fewer examples of how the participatory arts can develop or strengthen relationships with the environment outside the care home setting. Much of the findings in the case studies relate to the relationships between relatives and residents with some consideration of the involvement of volunteers and external arts practitioners coming into the home. The survey data and stage two interviews provide some examples where the care homes enable the residents to interact with the wider community through visits to cultural venues and participating in local events but overall the data suggests the flow tends to be people coming into the care home rather than residents engaging with people or venues outside the home. This is an interesting finding in itself, particularly as there appears to be little literature around people living in residential care homes settings going out of the homes and connecting with the wider community. Overall, this points to the need for further research into how engagement with the wider community could be promoted to prevent the isolation or ghettoization of the older generation. 6.4 Conclusion ‘Tain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It)* The broader overall aim of this project was to determine the role of creative arts and cultural participation in developing social relationships in care home settings and the wider community. The findings overall illustrate the central importance of the role of participatory arts and the creative processes involved in delivering arts and cultural activities in terms of the facilitators approach not only to engaging residents as individuals and as a group in activities but also the often hidden but vital work in engaging the wider staff group. With regard to the latter the role of the activities co-ordinator is particularly important. Although not the focus of the study our findings suggest that the specific art form appeared less important than the skill of the facilitator in using the art form to develop bonds between those engaging in the activities including residents, staff and family members. Having said this, the findings identified a unique quality of the arts that was powerful in bringing people together; by evoking meaningful memories and enabling residents to express themselves, their stories and their emotions. Moreover, art forms used in combination with each other seemed particularly powerful. In the case study data whilst each art form brought its own distinctive qualities to engaging the residents with each other and the staff group, and at times the wider community, the common attributes or mediating factors were foregrounded. All of the arts activities brought people together from different parts of a home into one location for a common purpose – to be creative and interact with other people. All the activities had a structured activity, a spatial dimension, and gave participants something new to do that was potentially challenging and stimulating. Arts forms in combination with one another can be very powerful. The role of the arts facilitator and the ways in which they built and facilitated multiple relationships within the wider care home was pivotal. In addition, the arts co-ordinators play a key role in the successful delivery of participatory arts activities, in encouraging residents to attend the sessions and supporting the arts facilitators in the activities. The strengths and abilities of residents were built on to enable their relationships with others and individual creativity was encouraged through making music, performative storytelling and movement in the dance. All of these factors were enabled or otherwise by the care context – both physical and cultural. A number of strategies were employed to heighten the potential of