Executive Summary 2019

Sustainability in delivering participatory arts in care homes Ways of promoting sustainability included creating a lasting legacy, supporting care home staff to provide continued arts activities, and the potential for collaboration between arts organisations. • Arts organisations always tried to leave something behind, such as music or a film, as a lasting memory of the arts programmes. • Impacts that happen in the moment should also be valued, particularly when many residents are experiencing cognitive decline. I think sometimes we do undervalue just that thing happening in that moment in time and how valuable it is to that person. (Arts organisations focus group) • Activities coordinators were particularly important for providing continued arts activities, but they need the skills and support to do so. • Through their experience as part of the research Project Management Group, arts organisations learnt they had a shared value base and collective knowledge, skills and experience that represented opportunities for new models of working. The research also found a number of barriers to the impacts of participatory arts on the social relationships of older people in care homes, and these are set out in the findings. Executive Summary 9