Artfelt

Artfelt brought together older people from an Edinburgh care home and young children from a local nursery to take part in a joint creative project in 2018.

Luminate worked with Starcatchers, Scotland’s early years arts organisation, and with partners Forbes Nursery in Edinburgh and nearby Morlich House Care Home. 

The children visited the care home weekly for several weeks in 2018 and took part in shared activities with some of the care home residents. 

They worked with  artists Deirdre Nelson and Kirstin Abraham, collaborating on activities including sewing, crafts, painting, drawing and singing.    

Deirdre and Kirstin encouraged everyone to take part in new activities that they may not have tried before and, working together, they created a beautiful indoor garden of fabric flowers and plants. 

At the end of the project, family and friends of the children and the older people gathered for an indoor garden party at Morlich House. 

The staff from Forbes Nursery and Morlich House were very positive about the impact of the project.  They told us that both the children and the older people had benefitted from taking part in activities that brought the generations together, and that creating art together encouraged “teamwork”, “interaction” and “lots of chat”. 

Six months after the project the relationship between the nursery and the care home was still strong, and the children were continuing to visit residents.