While the Southbank Centre has been closed we have continued to fulfill our social mission of bringing art to our communities.
On 24 September, ‘Art By Post’ will be part of the National Day of Arts in Care Homes, as part of its wider partnership with Nightingale Hammerson care home. In a one-off edition of the Southbank Centre’s ongoing exhibition Everyday Heroes, Nightingale Hammerson will be holding their own on-site exhibition curated by and for their residents to celebrate their ‘everyday heroes’ through poetry and photography.
Specific projects for care settings
Our (B)old creative workshops for people with dementia continued remotely via telephone tutoring and postal packs, and our Art by Post programme was created under lockdown and sends free creative activity booklets through the post to people who are isolated and who don’t have digital access.
Despite the virus having an impact on life at Nightingale Hammerson, the residents have still been finding ways to express themselves. On the 24 September they will celebrate the homes’ creative community, beautiful garden and how they are still able to collaborate in these strange times!
The day will start with a trail of handmade pottery sculptures around the garden culminating in a display of poetry, inspired by a project with the Southbank Centre. These poems and illustrations are made by residents and relatives and they will be hung in the branches of the garden’s willow tree.The final installation entitled ‘Enough is Enough’ will focus around the ‘Frustration Station’ where residents and staff will create a live painting together using water pistols and paint bombs to let out their frustrations at the virus.
Useful Resources
Contact us to take part in Art by Post
Created during lockdown, the Art by Post scheme sends free creative activity booklets through the post to people who are isolated and living with long-term mental and physical health conditions, across the UK. The poetry, visual arts and craft activities are designed to keep minds active, help participants and their supporters feel connected to others, and boost mental health and wellbeing.
There are now over 3,000 people taking part, from Aberdeen to Cardiff and from Truro to Dover, and their participants are aged from 18 to 103. People taking part are invited to return their poetry and artworks to the Southbank Centre via Freepost envelopes, and these will be part of an exhibition that Southbank Centre hopes to create when they reopen.
NAPA Arts in Care Homes has partnered with the Southbank Centre to support engagement across our network. Together, we will be hosting virtual sessions exclusively for care professionals to share resources and meet the artists producing the booklets.