Creative Ageing in Thailand
In July 2024, Anne Gallacher, Luminate’s Director, and Jane Findlay, Head of Programme and Engagement at Dulwich Picture Gallery, travelled to Bangkok to contribute to a 2-day creative ageing training programme.
In this blog, Anne and Jane share their reflections about their visit.
We were thrilled to be invited to share our experience with colleagues in Thailand, and excited about the opportunity to learn from Thai creative ageing programmes. The main focus of our visit was to contribute to a training programme hosted by the National Discovery Museum Institute (NDMI), commonly known as Museum Siam, in collaboration with British Council Thailand, but before this we were invited to visit the Community Lab in Nang Loeng, Bangkok. We were introduced to their work and shown around the local area, where the majority of the population is older and living on low incomes. The creative programme is run by a community-led collective, and has a strong heritage and environmental focus with many arts projects inspired by the local ‘buffalo field’ history and the surrounding canals.
The training began on the following day, and focused on the needs of museums, culture and health organisations who are working together on programmes to support the wellbeing of older people. Ten collaborative teams currently developing creative ageing projects took part, and travelled to Bangkok from all over Thailand.
We shared our own experience of creative ageing practice alongside two Thai speakers – Dr Ganigar Chen, Vice President of the National Science Museum Thailand, and Wayla Amatathammachad, Director of the Prayoon for Art Foundation. We introduced our organisations and our work, and led sessions focusing on a range of topics including partnership working and evaluation. We also heard from all the teams who attended, and had the opportunity to discuss their projects with them. Five out of the ten projects represented would later be selected by the Thai partners to receive project funding from the British Council.
...despite the different context we were struck by the parallels between work in Thailand and the UK.
What did we learn?
The Thai context is very different from the UK. Cultural policy and funding are organised differently, and the health and social care systems are also quite distinct. However despite the different context we were struck by the parallels between work in Thailand and the UK. Creative ageing programmes in Thailand seek to build and strengthen social connection (particularly after the restrictions of the pandemic), to give meaning to people’s lives, to share and value people’s stories, to support health and wellbeing, to bring the generations together and to challenge stereotypes of ageing. All of these aims can be seen in programmes across the UK.
As an example we heard about plans for a “Monday Museum” in Bangkok, where the Khlong Bang Luang Artist House would open on Mondays specifically to offer a creative programme to older people and eventually to present exhibitions created by participants. This idea had come about because Mondays have been identified as being a particularly lonely day for many older people in that area, and this had inspired a question about whether the Museum – which is normally closed on a Monday – could have a role to play in addressing this.
Many projects seek to create space and opportunity for older people’s stories to be shared, for example Prayoon for Art Foundation has an ongoing programme in Dansai district, Loei province, which uses stories of a former local rowing race as the starting point for a media art project. Another planned project in Bangkok, this time led by digital media professionals, aims to support older people to become digital content creators; at the heart of this is a desire to challenge stereotypical views suggesting that digital media projects are only relevant to younger people. Other projects have a specific health aim, for example the Lanna Museum in Chiang Mai where – in partnership with the University – they want to explore whether taking part in a creative and social programme has an impact on people’s need for medications.
Jane led a session on evaluation on day 2 of the training, and it was interesting to reflect on how the differing aims of this kind of work lead to different measures of success, both in Thailand and the UK. Anne’s session on partnerships also highlighted parallels between approaches in both countries, with the value of cross-sectoral collaboration being very clear bearing in mind the range of backgrounds represented by colleagues in the room.
Of course the different contexts bring differences to the work too. Some of these are cultural – for example changing views of traditional religions among some Thai communities – and others also have a practical impact, for example Wayla from Prayoon for Arts shared the experience of working with rural communities whose nearest connections can sometimes be as much as 2 days away on foot. But overall we came away with the clear impression that this practice has strong parallels across countries and cultures.
Something we have reflected on since our visit is the importance of older people’s involvement in project development. In Thailand we were struck by the clear commitment to ensuring that older people’s voices are heard in the planning of work, and the care for participants was palpable and strong. Perhaps a next step could be to involve some older community members within any future training, so their voices are at the heart of every stage of development.
What did we take away?
We both came away feeling inspired by experiencing the impact of creative ageing practice in a different country and different culture. We were struck by the importance of taking time to share learning with colleagues, and we learned something from every organisation and presentation. Our passion for our work in our own organisations was definitely reinforced by sharing learning with colleagues in Thailand.
We were reminded about the importance of partnership, and of the need for patience and flexibility to allow partnerships to develop. Working well in partnership takes time, and that was as clear in Thailand as it is in the UK.
We were also reminded about the diversity of creative ageing practice, and that sometimes this can make the work feel a bit complex. And yet at its heart – and within every project – the work is simply about the importance of being, and remaining, creative and connected as we get older, with all the many benefits that brings. We saw this diversity across our visit, and we see it in our everyday work.
Finally, a huge bonus of the visit was that it introduced us to each other! We hadn’t met before this trip, and we enjoyed working together and learning from each other’s experience. We are planning to get together again in London in a few weeks to talk in more depth about our work, and to continue learning from each other.
You can find information about Dulwich Picture Gallery’s Learning programme, including their work with and for older people, here: https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/learning/
Participants in the training programme hosted by the National Discovery Museum Institute in Bangkok, commonly known as Museum Siam, in collaboration with British Council Thailand.
