Art Explora: Sharing the love of art with ‘Arts at Home’
At Art Explora, the mission for our community programming is to use art and culture as a tool for improved wellbeing to combat isolation and encourage creative and independent thinking for those in or receiving care.
As part of our ‘Arts at Home’ programme, Art Explora volunteers visit residents at one of our 18 care home partner sites in London or Birmingham to facilitate fortnightly informal conversations about art. The group gathers in their communal space and directs their attention to the TV, where volunteers connect their devices to share artworks on screen. Each session, residents may see up to 6 artworks and spend an hour together sharing ideas and opinions, asking questions, and looking and listening intently.
Residents might guess the size or sales price of the artworks, identify and describe details of what they can see, or suggest what is happening that they can’t see. They often share memories that the artworks provoke or explain how they make them feel. The beauty of ‘Arts at Home’ is that it can be many things; loud and chatty, calm and quiet, silly and playful, and contemplative and serious. Residents and volunteers alike are from many different backgrounds and experiences, with different communication styles and differing levels of interest in art, so each session can be tailored to everyone’s needs.
We see the same residents each session, building rapport and relationships, and using art as the tool for deeper connection. In residents’ own words, the sessions help them to feel valued and less lonely:
‘We don’t talk enough about our feelings and it’s nice to be able to talk about how the artworks make us feel.’ – Care Resident
Family and friends are also welcome to join the sessions; we have found that having creative conversations together can be a way to be present together, to facilitate connection and conversation that can otherwise be challenging.
The way in which we deliver also relies solely on the strength and generosity of volunteers, who are a community that we nurture and support. Through preparation, dedication and conversations they lead with residents, they are also part of the connection, togetherness and creative stimulus that the sessions create.
‘Critical Hope’: What does this mean for Art Explora?
We are looking toward a systematic change in culture, aiming to interrogate and redefine the creative experiences that those living in care, particularly as they get older, are ‘able’ to have. We hope for an increased understanding and commitment from services and society to ensure that residents are provided with opportunities to create connections, and have creativity embedded in their lives. Amongst this change, we believe our role is to find sustainable ways to deliver community arts programming that has ripple effects, having a positive impact on not only the care residents that we work with directly, but also the volunteers, staff, and family members too.
Art Explora UK is a young charity, and our community programme is even younger. As we look ahead to grow and steer the direction of how we work, what we do, and who we do it for and with, critical hope is an important part of this process.
‘Often a painting will spark a conversation about something else completely, and people will share their memories or personal experiences, which feels like the real purpose of art for me; a bridge to connect us to each other.’ – Arts at Home Volunteer
Written by Stephanie O’Neill-Winbow, Head of Community Programmes
