Creative Encounters is a project designed to enhance well-being for care home residents living with dementia through co-creative art-making. Starting in 2018, under the artistic direction of Julian West, a multi-disciplinary team facilitated creative sessions with residents and staff across a series of Tower Hamlets care homes. With a focus on making art spontaneously and in the moment, the team took the lead from care home residents and staff, working together to foster new relationships and embed creativity into the everyday lives of the homes.
Originally intended as a three-year project ending in the summer of 2021, the team unfortunately had to stop visiting the care homes in person due to Covid-19. In place of their visits, the project workers and artists have kept in touch with care homes, communicating on a regular basis and sending “digital offerings”- messages of support and materials for the homes to use remotely.
Click here to read more about Creative Encounters, as Sonia Lambert, writer and journalist, talks us through the project and the value of creative work in care homes.