According to research conducted by University College London, engagement in arts groups can have positive effects on wellbeing in later stages of life. These effects include heightened life satisfaction, a strengthened sense of purpose, and reduced feelings of loneliness.
art:links is Create’s creative arts programme with vulnerable older people. It enables participants to build skills and confidence, express themselves, connect with others, and enhance their overall wellbeing.
During February and March 2024, members of Merton Dementia Hub participated in a visual art project led by Create artist Alisa Ruzavina.
Owain shared his first-hand experience of the project.
You need to be creative; it opens the mind. It means your mind is not asleep. In other words, it’s mind blowing.
owain
“I’ve done artwork before, but my skills have always been more practical. “I definitely feel more confident. I feel I’m in charge here, like I’m back in the good old days. I’ve enjoyed all of it.
“I definitely feel more connected to the others here. I wouldn’t know anybody around here otherwise, so it’s helped me engage with people. You get to know people’s quirks, what makes them special. We’ve all got quirks. For some people here, this is the only time they get to go anywhere outside of their home.”
I enjoy coming up here, and I always look forward to it
owain
This project was supported in London by The Charity of Sir Richard Whittington (via The Mercers’ Company), City Bridge Foundation and Wimbledon Foundation Community Fund.
MEET YVONNE, AN ART:LINKS PARTICIPANT FROM ISLINGTON
The UK has an ageing population. Research from The Baring Foundation highlights that many older adults face various challenges such as loneliness, health and financial issues. These can become a barrier for older adults to engage in social and creative activities that are beneficial for their health and happiness.
To help overcome these challenges, Create designed art:links, a programme that uses the creative arts to enable older adults to build skills and confidence, and reduce isolation. art:links gives participants a chance to express themselves, make connections with others, and enhance their wellbeing.
During September and October 2023, members of Age UK Islington took part in an improvisation project led by Create’s drama artist.
We caught up with Yvonne to hear about her experience.
access to creativity
“I don’t normally do creative activities. If there’s a cost, I won’t be able to do it. But this [project] was free: because I’m connected with Age UK, I was able to.”
Age UK’s research highlights the financial concerns among older adults, with 91% expressing worries about the cost of living. This financial strain has led many to reduce social activities and hobbies, impacting mental wellbeing.
enhanced wellbeing
“I really enjoyed it, and I would recommend it to others as well. I even told my doctor about it and she was really happy I had something to help with my mental health and all the things I’ve got going on at the moment.
“I really loved the ‘yes, and’ [activity], where somebody says something and you continue with ‘yes, and’. That was both therapeutic and creative for me. It’s actually helped me in my personal life. It has given me a positive outlook by saying ‘yes, and’ instead of going negative and spiralling down. It’s been good in that regard.
I enjoyed having some place to go to take myself.
YVONNE
“I call it my ‘me time’. Because I’m given a chance to come and do what I want to do, and just be free and I’m not being judged. And the fact that it’s creative is good because my creativity has just gotten to spark up.
meeting new people
“It was nice watching everybody else. I get a bit nervous when I’m put on the spot. But watching everyone else and knowing whatever I said was not going to be criticised or right or wrong was very helpful. It made me want to participate.
“I don’t have a lot of physical seeing people. I do have online telephone meet ups, but to get up and get out has been a nice activity. You get a chance to interact with other people with separate lifestyles. Sometimes you want to talk and sometimes you don’t. But either way, you’ve met people.”
This project was supported in London by The Charity of Sir Richard Whittington (via The Mercers’ Company) and City Bridge Foundation.
art:links is Create’s creative arts project with vulnerable older people. The project aims to build skills and confidence, giving participants a chance to express themselves, connect with others and enhance their wellbeing.
For six weeks in September and October 2023, members of Chamberlain House Dementia Resource Centre in Kensington and Chelsea engaged in a transformative painting project led by our visual artist Anna Clarke.
We spoke to Jacqueline about her experience on the project.
“I’d always been used to going to clubs, whether it had been a youth club, or the rock n’ roll club. And when they stopped, especially when I got ill, I was lost. I didn’t know what to do. And at that time my hands weren’t as good as they are at the moment.”
As Jacqueline opened up about her journey, she revealed the loneliness that she faced when her family moved away. “I don’t see [my family] like I’d like to because they’ve moved. They’ve got their lives. At least I can get out and I’m not stuck in a bed or anything like that. That would do me in.”
Loneliness is not uncommon among older people in the UK. Age UK reports that over 2 million individuals aged 75 and above in England live alone, and more than a million older people acknowledge experiencing a whole month without engaging in a conversation with a friend, neighbour or family member.
Jacqueline found joy in the art:links project. Her love for drawing and the ability to create something uniquely hers became a source of empowerment.
“I do like my drawing, I’ve always done art. I’ll have to see if any of my kids have got any of the books [of my art]. I enjoyed visual arts because, when you can put something of your own on paper, it’s lovely to know that you’re the one that’s done that.”
Wrapping up her reflections, Jacqueline expressed appreciation for the project, emphasising the simple yet profound joy of being able to step outside and participate in creative endeavours.
“My favourite thing about the project was just coming here, and not being stuck indoors.”
“I can’t push myself around, and my carer is not with me 24/7. So just coming here, and seeing what we can do. And the people as well. It was good. It was enjoyable.”
art:links Kensington and Chelsea is funded by City Bridge Foundation and The Royal Borough of and Chelsea Arts Grants Scheme.
For six weeks in September and October 2022, members of Age UK Salford took part in music workshops each Wednesday with Create musician Holly Marland.
Tom (80) told us about his experiences on the project.
“I’ve had dementia for about 10 years. I don’t think it’s got worse but it may have done. As a doctor I had to stop working. I get a lot of support from my wife and I’ve got a daughter who also helps.
“Initially it worried me a lot, and I felt diminished by it. But with all the things like my family and coming here [to Age UK Salford], that’s lifted me up quite a bit. The challenges are trying to remain independent and not leaning too much on your family, be that your wife or your children; and trying to keep your morale up – by going out, by reading and realising that, particularly in this area, there are a lot of lovely people who can help you in this journey, which can be incredibly lonely unless you’ve got support.
a morale boost
“I’ve been coming every Wednesday for the past six weeks. I have learnt a lot. It has also lifted up my morale. Because the teams are so warm and friendly and skilful at talking to people, it has uplifted me psychologically. I’ve learnt how much I enjoy music. It cheers me up and inspires me.
“Doing something creative always feels good because it builds your confidence. When your memory is not as good as it was, that’s absolutely essential.”
tom, create participant
“It’s a very good experience working with the group because it stops you feeling lonely, with a group of people who are probably going down the same road as you, and we all help each other. It’s a very friendly small society.
“Doing something creative always feels good because it builds your confidence. I certainly felt that helps me. When your memory is not as good as it was, that’s absolutely essential.
“I need this support”
“I’ve learnt that I need this support. I find [it] very inspiring, and overall it has taught me how important it is, particularly with dementia, to be talking to and mixing with other people. In many respects we’re all very similar, and we’re all trying to overcome the effects of dementia, which can lower your morale quite a lot.
“I think I’ve always been a creative person. I have sung in choirs as a young man, I’ve probably always been quite good at painting and things like that. But all of this helps me keep happy.
“Projects like this help people living with dementia tremendously in cheering them up because, as we know, dementia is quite depressing, particularly when you’ve had a very active life. I have been very active as a doctor and a surgeon. So it has been good for my morale.”
This project was funded by an anonymous benefactor.
art:links reduces the isolation of vulnerable older people. The project aims to build skills and confidence, giving participants a chance to express themselves and connect with others. For four weeks in July 2022, members of Age UK Islington took part in ceramics workshops with Create artist Sam Haynes.
Susan (60+) told us about her experience on the project.
“I gave up being a perfectionist some time ago.”
Susan
“During this project we’ve been using clay, and I for one hadn’t used it since I was at school when I made a clay pot. We were helped and encouraged and shown how to do things. I don’t know what to call what I’ve made. It could be a holder for joss sticks, those long straw-like things. Or if family came to dinner I could put some breadsticks in there. I started the project feeling really tense but I felt very relaxed by the time I’d had my hands in the clay for a bit. It was really nice.
“It’s very unusual for me to do something like this. My job is sitting in a chair talking to people. My children are quite artistic but I’ve never been tempted to do anything myself. I think you get to a point at a certain age where you don’t want to do things badly, but now I’m past caring. I’m just enjoying it. I gave up being a perfectionist some time ago but this is the first time I’ve done anything like this so I didn’t expect too much, I just thought ‘enjoy it’. I know I’m not going to be really good at it but I really enjoy doing it.
“I’ve enjoyed meeting the other people and seeing what they’re doing. I enjoyed meeting Oli [Create Project Manager] and Sam. She’s very clear, and you don’t feel like you’re not getting enough attention. She’s very good. She has a nice, clear voice as well.
“I’ve learnt that there’s a lot to learn. I don’t know when I’ll get another chance to do it, but I enjoyed it, so I’ll look out for a class. It’s just a very nice, relaxed atmosphere.
Making creativity accessible
“In a typical week, I’d be meeting friends and going for a walk in the park, or to an art gallery. I think my favourite gallery is the Courtauld.
“I don’t normally get a chance to do creative things, unless you count cooking something interesting, but actually holding material and creating something, I don’t get many chances. So it felt very good and it was fun! I’ve learnt that it’s okay to enjoy [the process] and not make everything perfect.
“I think when you get older, you don’t want to go and try something when everyone’s much younger in the room and knows what they’re doing. So [Create projects] make it feel very accessible. It’s nice to meet different people, too. When you’re my age a lot of your friends start falling off the perch. If I bumped into any of my fellow participants in the future, I’d stop and talk to them.”
This project was supported by The Charity of Sir Richard Whittington (via The Mercers’ Company).
Photography By Age UK members goes on tour in Havering
Photographs taken by members of Age UK Redbridge, Barking & Havering during a Create project are being shown in a touring exhibition at three Havering venues between now and the end of the year.
The exhibition is on display at MyPlace community centre in Harold Hill, Havering (to 20 November), and then moves on to Mercury Mall in Romford (22-30 November) before culminating at Fry’s Gallery in Hornchurch’s Fairkytes Arts Centre (2-9 December). The exhibition has been funded by Havering Council, and is free to visit.
One of the participants working with Create photographer Alejandra at Langtons House
The photographs were taken during our art:links project in September and October 2021. Members of Age UK visited the beautiful grounds at Langtons House in Hornchurch with our professional photographer Alejandra Carles-Tolra and Nurturing Talent artist Ashley Gill. They were encouraged to take pictures that celebrated “reconnection”, both with each other after the lockdown, and with nature.
MEET DIANA
The project participants are all members of Age UK’s Di’s Diamonds group. Diana talked to us about her experiences:
“From the first few minutes of a very warm and friendly welcome, Alejandra encouraged us to explore our inner creativity to produce imaginative, eye-catching and colourful work. Not for us the technicalities of ISO and white balance, but the freedom of roaming round the beautiful gardens and greenhouse thinking outside the box and using all sorts of natural items such as rain-dropped leaves to tubes of paper, prisms and natural framing to create wonderful abstract photographs.
“Using these objects and other exercises we learnt physically about zoom control, how to add light to our subjects using mirrors and light box diffusers, and how to create shadows. We were lucky to have lovely sunny days but even when we had heavy rain we managed to capture great shots in between downpours. We had immense fun and each Tuesday I was so happy in the anticipation of joining the group, ecstatic during the class doing what I love doing best, and so feeling pleased with what I had achieved I went home smiling and blissfully content.
“Thank you to Alejandra for being such a kind, encouraging and enthusiastic [facilitator], and the Create team. They too were so helpful aiding us and giving us so much praise for our work, which in turn gave us all a great feeling of accomplishment and self-worth. I’m sure I speak for others by saying how much we appreciate everyone’s efforts in keeping us happy and calm during an otherwise terrible time.”
See some of their images below.
art:links Havering was funded by the Masonic Charitable Foundation, The Mercers’ Company and W G Edwards Charitable Foundation.
art:links is Create’s national creative arts programme connecting and upskilling vulnerable older people. During September and October 2021, members of Age UK Islington took part in music workshops with our professional musicians Holly Khan and Kate Smith. We spoke to Leah about her experience on the project.
“I’ve enjoyed singing, I’ve enjoyed the writing exercises, I’ve enjoyed seeing our work come together in songs.”
Leah
“I’ve been going through a really difficult time. I’ve just moved house and I’m a family carer, so I have some of that responsibility. My life is really quite lonely. It’s been really good to get out and meet people again. Where I was living before, I couldn’t get Zoom and I often couldn’t get phone calls. It makes you feel really isolated. So it’s been lovely to come back out and do something.
“As a group, we created a poem, which we then scored. We created the poem as part of a free-writing exercise: we went into the park, collected natural objects, wrote about them, and then used that as a basis for the song. It was absolutely brilliant, I was so proud when I saw it last week. I’ve also created some stories, and I started to create a poem as well.
Click play to hear the first poem set to music, created by the participants
“IT WAS LIKE MISSING A LIMB”
“I’ve enjoyed singing, I’ve enjoyed the writing exercises, I’ve enjoyed seeing our work come together in songs. And it’s made me realise how much I missed the musicianship I’ve been part of before, which I haven’t done for a while.
“I’ve learnt that, with music, you don’t lose it. I think that’s been really important. I’m 56 and the last time I did something particularly musical I was in my late 20s, maybe early 30s, when I was in a community choir. And then I just got busy with work because I was travelling, and I had to drop it. And that was it.
“It was like missing a limb, but I didn’t actually understand that until I came back and started doing something again. I’m not letting it go again. I will have to find ways, but music is going to be a part of my life in an active way, not just listening to the radio or going to concerts, I actually want to be involved in making music.
Click to hear the second poem
“Holly and Kate were so well tuned as to how to get the best out of people. I’ve loved having them as leaders. I think they’re really good, I’ve learnt some new skills. It has been a lovely experience.
“Although I write and I think of myself as a writer, I didn’t understand that I see the world through stories. I hadn’t realised that it’s almost a building block of how I see the world. I now understand that I’m a writer because it’s a function of vision. People who paint see images, and I see stories and I always have, and I hadn’t actually connected that that’s the way things are. But I do now, so I’ve been much, much happier.
“Yesterday I went and got all my writing practice books because I will be starting again, and one day of the weekend is going to be for my writing. I’ve got a series of books that I’ve been working on, and I’m on the third one and I haven’t done any work on it in about eight months. I’m ready. One day a week is enough even if it’s just a few hours, to get back into the routine. I’m looking forward to that.”
CREATE AND ASHURST WIN PRESTIGIOUS LEGAL CSR AWARD
A volunteer and participant on the creative:engagement project
I’m delighted that our Ashurst / Create partnership has won the Legal Week CSR Innovation (Collaboration) Award.
Recognising “exceptional achievement and best practice”, this award acknowledges the innovative, collaborative approach taken to reducing isolation and building confidence among older people through the creative arts.
The award-winning project, creative:engagement, focuses on older people with dementia and mental ill-health. Bringing older people together from two different organisations, it provides them with the opportunity to explore their creativity through creative projects led by our professional artists. It also promotes social interaction amongst participants, the staff who care for them and Ashurst volunteers, reducing feelings of loneliness and isolation and increasing feelings of self-worth, confidence and wellbeing.
The award win was announced at a virtual ceremony
We’ve worked with Ashurst since 2015, with our creative:engagement workshops usually (pre-lockdown) hosted at Ashurst’s London office. Over the years we’ve seen the project go from strength to strength, and both participants and volunteers have felt their confidence, creative skills, social interaction and teamwork strengthened. Seeing friendships flourish across the generations is one of the project’s greatest strengths.
One of the participants said:
“When you get to Ashurst you get a massive welcome, it’s so big and posh but they have the time and they stop for us. The artists get it right, how they explain things, the approach, the attention. The end product doesn’t matter, it is something you take home, but the process, the experience is always there.”
During the lockdown, we’ve been continuing the project over the phone, connecting isolated older people and Ashurst volunteers with our professional musician for music, singing and fun. As lockdown has meant many of our participants are shielding and have been unable to see family and friends, bringing them together through creativity has never been more important:
“The workshop has woken me up. I was beginning to get tired with nothing to do, no one to talk to. […] I really enjoyed it today, I’ll sleep tonight!”
We’re delighted that this important work – and our ongoing partnership with Ashurst – has been recognised with the prestigious award.
Can poetry help to reduce isolation? In June and July 2020 as part of our art:links programme funded by London Freemasons and The Mercers’ Company, we ran a series of eight creative writing workshops with older people who attend Age UK Havering, Barking and Redbridge. These enabled participants to have fun, build skills, make friends and reduce isolation – and together they produced a moving collection of poetry. We have now compiled this into a book.
The workshops were delivered via Create Live!, our online, interactive project initiative developed to reach participants during the lockdown and beyond.
“You can choose to be bored or choose to be creative.”
Kara
Can writing poetry help reduce feelings of isolation? Through this creative writing project with our poet Simon Mole, older adults explored a variety of writing techniques and drew on their own memories, experiences and personal objects for creative inspiration. The project enabled them to come together and develop their creative writing skills and self-expression collaboratively, at a time of increased isolation and hardship.
The poems written have been brought together in a book full of profound, funny and lyrical work.
We also had a chance to talk to Kara about how the project introduced her to something new and taught her not to limit herself:
I have not seen my grandchildren for five months. My son was worried about us because we are vulnerable, because of our age and medical conditions. It became too stressful trying to keep that distance. A four-and-a-half-year-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old wouldn’t understand that.
At least I know now there are lots of projects around! You don’t have to feel isolated. You just have to make the choice of engaging with other people. Boredom is what you create for yourself and you can choose. You can choose to be bored or choose to be creative.
We have been creating poetry. I have not done any creative poetry before. I have enjoyed it very much. I am surprised [by my poetry]. The only literature I did in school was reciting. It was painful, all the reciting, and it didn’t mean anything to me.
Being creative has actually made me put my thinking cap on, to think: what can I write, what can I make beautiful, what can I expand on? I know Simon says you don’t have to rhyme, but suddenly I’m thinking about rhyming and changing my words around. And I think I’ll just do it for the workshop but then I go back to my notebook and I start scribbling and making some changes. Instead of just doing it because I have to, I’m challenging myself. Can I improve it, can I make it fun? Writing so that there’s a bit of humour and laughter in what I write.
Follow Create on Twitter and Instagram to see more creative work from our projects.
Create has collaborated with the international law firm Ashurst to tackle the social problem of loneliness among older people.
Age UK states that in the UK there are 3.8 million individuals over the age of 65 who live alone. Nearly half of these people (49%) have confessed that television or pets are their main form of company. Loneliness, a lack of meaningful human interaction, is a feeling that has profound effects on both mental and physical health. In “Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review” (2010) researchers have found that the influence of social relationships on the risk of death are comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality such as smoking and alcohol consumption and exceed the influence of other risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity.
Create and Ashurst have designed creative:engagement – the multi-arts project that tackle loneliness among older frail people. With a focus on older people with dementia and mental ill-health, the project builds confidence and facilitates positive social interaction through creativity. The project has been tailor-made to combine Create’s expertise in designing and running creative workshops in community settings with Ashurt’s Corporate Social Responsibility objectives and strategy.
Bringing participants from Maudsley’s SUCAG (Service User Carers Advisor Group) and The Holborn Community Association together with volunteers from Ashurst, the six-weekly workshops at Ashurst’s office provide an opportunity for the two groups of older adults to collaborate on creative projects, building new skills and new relationships.
During the project, the participants work with Create’s professional artists to explore a range of art forms – from sculpture, poetry and painting to photography, ceramics and jewellery-making. This range of art forms enables the participants to develop a variety of connected artistic and technical skills, boosting their self-esteem and creative thinking.
Isabel Porcel-Rojas, SUCAG’s Recovery and Engagement Worker, confesses that “for me the amazing thing is the shared activity with another group, Holborn Community. At the beginning, I wasn’t sure how it was going to be. My group is very friendly, but they got to know each other over a long period of time, so they are very good friends. But now at the end of each Create session, I hear people from my group tell their fellow-participants from Holborn Community, “Goodbye my good friend, see you next time”. They are building up new relationships within this group.”
Being part of creative:engagement from the start, Isabel has been able to observe the impact of the project on the participants. “Madeline has dementia and dyslexia,” Isabel shares, “and when I first asked her to be involved with Create, she told me, “yes but it will be a massive challenge for me. I’ve got dyslexia, I can’t read very complicated documents, I can’t write a lot of things.”
Every single time Madeline arrived at a workshop, she would ask me, “Are they going to put me on the spot? Are they going to ask me to fill something out?”, so she was very private about her dyslexia and about the fact that she couldn’t write and read as well as some other people. The other day, though, in one of the drama sessions she just openly said to everyone, “I wouldn’t be able to do that because I’ve got dyslexia”. The fact that she was feeling confident enough and safe enough in the group to open herself up is very important. She feels a sense of belonging to something and feels safe and protected enough to know that she can just be herself”.
In 2020, our partnership won the Legal Week CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] Innovation (Collaboration) Award. Create is very proud of our collaboration with Ashurst and we look forward to further developing our partnership.
Learn about Ashurst’s global Corporate Responsibility programme on the law firm’s website.
