WIREDGOV

Residents in care homes across West Yorkshire will find it easier to attend arts events following £250,000 of funding from Arts Council England and the Baring Foundation, as part of their jointly funded Arts and older people programme.

We do, based in Holmfirth, will launch @home - a club for residential and nursing homes and arts and cultural providers offering a programme of arts events in care homes and at cultural venues across West Yorkshire. There will also be a special programme for staff who work in care homes which are members.

The arts sector will also be able to join and will be encouraged to consider how their work could be made more accessible or be adapted to suit audiences from care homes and people who might have greater needs because of conditions such as dementia. 

@home will be run by a consortium of organisations already practising their commitment to improving access to the arts for older generations: Hoot Creative Arts, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Holme Valley Sharing Memories, Adult Services Older People at Kirklees Council, Market Development and Innovation at Kirklees Council, Ideal Care Homes, Anchor Care Homes and South West Yorkshire Foundation Partnership.

Deborah Munt, Director of We do, comments: 'We are delighted to have been awarded the funds to deliver @home. We are looking forward to using our collective strengths as a consortium to really shift how people think about arts in care homes and to ultimately ensure that people living in care homes can have good access to the high quality arts that are abundant in the UK.'

Peter Bazalgette, Chair, Arts Council England, said: 'There are currently over 400,000 older people in residential homes, many of whom are often excluded from the opportunities and benefits that taking part in arts and cultural experiences bring.'

'There is a real potential to bring about a step change in the quantity and quality of arts activity that older people in residential care have access to across England and this programme is a great start. And what's more - the lessons learned from this work will be actively promoted and shared so that other care providers and arts organisations can adopt similar projects.'

Three other projects have received funding through the programme: The Courtyard which will work in partnership with Shaw Health Care to set up participatory arts projects in 32 of Shaw's care homes, The Abbeyfield Society in Nottingham will develop an arts programme called Imagine to enable older people in residential care in the East Midlands to have access to the arts and Arts for Health Cornwall & Scilly Isles (AFHC) which will explore how high-quality creative arts can engage, invigorate and give a voice to older people in residential settings.