Arts in Care

Summer 2022 saw Arts in Care restart, with the original ten artists delivering creative sessions for and with residents and staff in 25 care homes across Scotland.

The participating artists are: Elaine Kordys, Florence Dwyer, Graeme Roger, Janie Nicoll, Ken Cockburn, Lesley Wilson, Lorna Campbell, Marcela Trsova, Ruth Rowlands and Stuart Paterson.

With backgrounds in music, visual arts, craft, performance and creative writing, the artists bring a range of practices and experience to the project. Alongside the delivery of creative sessions in homes, the artists are participating in ongoing training and peer mentoring, developing the skills and confidence needed to work creatively in care settings.

Arts in Care launched in 2019 with the aim to develop the skills of professional artists who want to work in older people’s social care, and to support care homes to host creative activities. The first phase of Arts in Care saw 18 artists from across Scotland take part in a training programme in Autumn 2019, led by Newcastle-based creative ageing specialists Equal Arts. The training explored different approaches to working creatively with older people and included hands-on activities, theory-based discussion and opportunities for reflection. Valuable contributions were made by the Care Inspectorate, a care home manager and an NHS psychiatrist.

In 2020, ten artists were preparing to collaborate with 30 care homes for older people across Scotland. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the project had to pause in March 2020, but we were delighted that this programme was able to restart and continued through to autumn 2022.

Arts in Care has been developed in collaboration with Creative Scotland, the Care Inspectorate and the Baring Foundation.