Creativity and Older People
28/10/2022 | Author: Tracy Breathnach
In September we were invited to attend a roundtable event organised by Age Cymru with presentations by delegates from Finland working across creativity, culture and care.
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In September we were invited to attend a roundtable event organised by Age Cymru with presentations by delegates from Finland working across creativity, culture and care, with colleagues from Arts Council of Wales and Wales Arts International.
It was an inspirational morning to hear about the ways that colleagues in Finland are responding to a ‘rapidly ageing’ community – it has the fastest rate of ageing in Europe and second in the world after Japan. To this end, the way that social care is provided is being radically transformed to ensure that older people can access a wide range of services, including access to arts and culture.
They are exploring systemic change, so that ”All older people have the opportunity to participate and experience art and culture regardless of life situation such as age, physical condition, financial situation, place of residence.” This means they move away from a ’silver bullet’ approach to deliver short-term and one-off projects and pilots, and they are looking at actively building long-term relationships between the ’actors’ in the system, which includes government, local authorities, arts organisations and health providers, as well as older people themselves.
Alongside this, it was really great to hear how the innovative work that has happened here in Wales through cARTrefu, could be a seed in moving towards a more systemic approach (you can read the evaluation of the cARTrefu project here). And to continue this momentum, we are hosting a special WAHWN Network Meeting to focus on Creativity and Older People on November 17th at 10-11.30am (online) with Kelly Barr, Arts & Creativity Programme Manager, Age Cymru. Is there an appetite for a Wales-based network for organisations who are delivering creative programmes for older people? Come along and share what work you are doing right now in Wales.
We will also be joined by Raisa Karttunen and Matti Selin from Finland, who will share their work with us. You can read more about the work being done in Finland in ‘Love in a Cold Climate’ a compilation of 18 case studies written by Raisa Karttunen, Jenni Rasanen and David Cutler, produced by The Baring Foundation.
Book your place on our Network Meeting here
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