Background
Arts in Care is an ambitious new project developed by Luminate in collaboration with the Care Inspectorate, Creative Scotland and the Baring Foundation. The aim of Arts in Care is to embed high quality arts in care activity across Scotland, with a long-term aim to build the skills, capacity and strength of both the arts and care sectors. Artist training and professional development will run alongside a creative programme for residents and staff in 30 care homes across Scotland.
Opportunity for Care Homes
We are now inviting care homes for older people to apply to take part in this project.
Each selected care home will host an artist to deliver 5 half-day creative sessions with residents and staff at no financial cost to the home. This activity will take place between February and May 2020, with dates and times to be agreed between participating artists and care homes.
We will select 30 care homes for older people from across Scotland, and we are looking for a group of homes with a range of different attributes - urban and rural, mainland and islands, homes of different sizes and with different governance structures (local authority, private, voluntary/not for profit organisations); as well as a diversity of experience delivering creative activities.
Embedding creativity in care settings has been shown to be hugely beneficial to residents and staff, improving wellbeing, providing opportunities to socialise and to learn skills, as well as helping people living with dementia. There are already many examples of fantastic creativity happening across the sector, however we acknowledge that there can be barriers to facilitating such activities, whether that is due to limited resources and training, or the challenges of meeting the specific needs of individuals amongst a large group.
This project aims to build capacity, skills and confidence of the care sector through learning opportunities and knowledge exchange between artists and care staff.
Each selected care home will receive:
- 5 x 1/2 days of high quality creative activity delivered by skilled artists, at no cost to the home.
- Opportunities for residents, staff and managers to engage in activities to develop skills, confidence and creativity.
- Participation in a Scotland-wide project with ambitions for long-term impact on the sector.
Each participating care home will commit to the following:
- Care home manager and other staff will meet with the artist in advance, to help him/her plan the project. Activity coordinators are also welcome if there is one.
- Care home staff will support residents’ engagement with the creative activity during each visit.
- Supporting staff and managers to participate in sessions to enhance their own learning and development
- Care home manager and other relevant staff will contribute to the evaluation of the project (an independent evaluation body is to be appointed, and will produce an evaluation report which will be published at the end of the project).
- Please note that you must seek permission from residents/family members before consenting to take part in this project as photographs, filming and other collection of data may take place.
Selection criteria
Please note that this opportunity is open to care homes who achieved grade 3 or above for all five key questions at their last inspection. If not all key questions were inspected against please use the grade from a previous inspection.
- How well do we support people’s wellbeing?
- How good is our leadership?
- How good is our staff team?
- How good is our setting?
- How well is our care planned?
Successful care homes will be able to demonstrate:
- How you will maximize the potential impact of the creative project in your care home.
- How you will support the artist and participating residents throughout the project.
- How you will support staff to participate meaningfully in the project and any activity.
Please note that the final selection will take into account the need for a geographical spread and mix of urban and rural locations, as well as a diversity of scale and governance and experience of supporting creative activity. The Arts in Care project will be supported by an Improvement Adviser from the Care Inspectorate.
How to apply
Interested care homes should:
- Apply in their own words as to why the feel their care home is suitable for this project, with particular emphasis on why they feel the arts are important to their residents and to overall wellbeing outcomes.
- Please include general (not confidential) details of any particular health needs of your residents that may need to be taken into account.
- Please include details of the expected number of residents taking part and any issues around space or facilitation.
- Include all this information in either one Word document or a PDF.
Please email your application to Lisa Maynard, Improvement Adviser, Care Inspectorate at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with ‘Arts in Care: Care Homes Opportunity’ in the subject line
All applications must be received by 23rd October at midday.
Applications will be reviewed by a panel comprising representatives from Luminate, Creative Scotland and the Care Inspectorate.
If you have any enquiries about this opportunity, please contact Lisa Maynard, Improvement Adviser, Care Inspectorate, ahead of the deadline: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / 01382 207393 / 07970405050.
About
Luminate is Scotland's creative ageing organisation, running a diverse programme of creative events and activities throughout the year: www.luminatescotland.org.
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here: https://www.creativescotland.com/
The Care Inspectorate is a scrutiny body which supports improvement. Their vision is that everyone experiences safe, high-quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices: http://www.careinspectorate.com/