Developing everyday creative activities is a good way of bringing more art into your homes. Residents and staff that are put off by the term ‘the arts’ may be more willing to take part in craft, reminiscence or cooking related activities.
Visual arts
How To: Organise an art exhibition
Arts in Care Homes
User-friendly advice and tips on organising art exhibitions in care homes.
Creative Minds
Creative Minds deliver accessible art sessions in care homes. They have a nationwide community of 40 artists and are able to deliver a diverse range of sessions exploring visual art, crafts and sculpture. Book a session
Region: Nationwide
Alive Activities
Alive Activities provide dynamic person-centred creative activities for older people living in care homes, allowing participants to shape the content and direction of sessions. Alive Activities provide a variety of arts sessions and staff training workshops for care homes.
Region: Bristol & surrounding counties
Orleans Gallery
The CREATE programme at Orleans Gallery has been designed to engage older adults living in care within Richmond and neighbouring boroughs. The aim of the sessions are to:
Improve quality of life for older people and their carers through delivering high quality creative engagement with the gallery’s collection.
Improve quality of life for older people and their carers in priority wards within the borough, through creative engagement with the gallery’s collection.
Area: Richmond Borough
Armchair Gallery
Imagine
App with special features for people living with dementia. Armchair Gallery includes instructions for doing tried-and-tested creative activities. Discover, play & create with your favourite artists. Colour a Canaletto, create your own Hepworth, take a selfie with Lowry and much, much more…
Treasury of arts activities for older people
Liz Postlethwaite, The Baring Foundation
Publication, compiling 50 arts activities, long and short, for use in any setting with older people. See online copy.
Hard copies are available from The Baring Foundation whilst stocks last.
Equal Arts
Equal Arts work to improve the lives of older people through creativity and arts activities around the country provide creative opportunities to help improve people’s wellbeing.
Find out more about Creative Age an initiative leading the way in dementia-friendly arts sessions and Hen Power giving residents access to animals and nature.
Paintings in Hospitals
The mission of Painting in Hospitals is to transform the UK’s health by using world-class art to inspire better health and wellbeing for patients, carers and communities.
Find out more about Painting in Hospitals’ art loans and activities for care homes.
Arts 4 Dementia
Arts 4 Dementia is a UK charity, working with arts venues to:
- Provide training and develop arts programmes.
- Empower and inspire people with early-stage dementia and carers through artistic stimulation.
- Help preserve fulfilling active life together, for longer at home.
cARTrefu
Age Cymru (The Baring Foundation)
Watch a film about cARTrefu, a project by Age Cymru to improve access to quality arts experiences for older people in residential care.
The cARTrefu Activity Pack provides creative ideas for care home staff and residents.
Salmagundi Films
Salmagundi Films is a not for profit arts organisation that uses film and stop frame animation as a platform for creative expression.
Projects in care home settings include The Person Within – digital self portraits and stop-frame animation films.