Helping reduce isolation and loneliness People of any age can feel lonely, but the problem often becomes more acute as we grow older. Over one third of people over 65 live alone, but even those living with a partner or in a residential home may still feel isolated. Families may have moved away; lack of money can mean people feel unable to afford social and cultural activities; for some groups language may be a barrier to finding out what help is available. Many people find themselves with the lonely responsibility of caring for a partner 24 hours a day, and illness and bereavement both contribute to isolation.
Good Times aims to help combat loneliness and inertia by offering a plethora of activities, including tailor made Gallery visits, art appreciation talks and creative art sessions, combined with time to talk and enjoy companionship. The older people participating come from many different backgrounds, so each visit is different and personal. We also make sure the timing is right, unrushed to fit with older people’s schedules. The programme is flexible, and can be adjusted to meet our participants’ needs and interests, yet our commitment to quality and care remains constant.
“You treated us as if we were so special.”
First year partners
Age Concern Southwark Black Elders A group catering for mentally frail older people in the community
Lewisham Very Sheltered Housing: Kenton Court and Somerville Lack of funds means there has been very little in the way of creative activities for frail residents at these units – until now…
‘New Beginnings’ group at Lambeth Carers For older carers who have recently Age Concern Southwark, been bereaved. We hope to help Stones End Day Centre this and other carers groups Day care support for older people through a particularly difficult or with physical and mental disabilities, lonely time in their lives and visual and hearing impairments People’s Excursion Blackfriars Settlement This community-based group A community group in Southwark aims to bring over 50s together for offering friendship, support and cultural activities and excursions activities to isolated older residents that they would otherwise be unlikely to visit alone Edward Alleyn House Adjoining the gallery, our local Southwark Arts Forum almshouses provide flats and bedsits An umbrella group for arts for women aged 60 years and over, organisations in Southwark, “in need, hardship or distress” including members of the and of modest financial means Seniors Creative Network Intermediate Care Unit, Dulwich Hospital Patients and carers at our local hospital
Springfield Primary Care Centre A GP surgery’s art group for isolated and mentally frail members of the community St Barnabas Church Group For older people in the Dulwich area Acknowledgements Good Times is a two-year project funded by the Bridge House Trust, with a musical contribution from The Concertina Arts Trust. The invaluable advice, help and enthusiasm of colleagues and friends, young and old, have ensured the project lives up to its name. Good Times: Art for Older People at Dulwich Picture Gallery has been Highly Commended at the Charity Awards 2006
Southwark Asian Elders Based in Peckham Rye, where classes in embroidery are organised for their female members. This group provides an opportunity for socialising, outings and mutual support
“I’ve never been here but I want to come again.”
The Sackler Centre for Arts Education
For more information visit www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk Dulwich Picture Gallery is an independent charity and receives no central Government funding.
SteersMcGillan Design Ltd 01225 465546. Photography by Janie Airey and Len Cross
Age Concern Bromley, Hour Bank An imaginative hour bank initiative to encourage older people to participate in their community
The Sackler Centre for Arts Education
Good Times Art for Older People at Dulwich Picture Gallery
“I will remember today for the rest of my life.”
Good Times: Art for Older People at Dulwich Picture Gallery Good Times is Dulwich Picture Gallery’s trail-blazing art-based programme especially for isolated older people. Visits and tours are unique sociable experiences that everyone, whether they have been regular visitors to galleries or are venturing into the world of art for the first time, will recall with pleasure.
In creative art sessions, both in the Sackler Centre Art Studio and on outreach, participants are amazed at the quality of work they can produce with the guidance of artists. Some find themselves picking up a brush for the first time since school, while others are developing a long-forgotten skill. And people almost always want to come back for more….
“Now we’ll have something different to talk about tomorrow.”
Gallery visits Visitors are made to feel comfortable. Dulwich Picture Gallery is all on one level and fully wheelchair accessible, with disabled parking space and a beautiful garden.
Groups are welcomed by their own personal Gallery Guide, who introduces them to a range of carefully selected paintings. Whether people are familiar with the Gallery or are visiting for the first time, they will find aspects to intrigue and delight, sparking questions and conversations that are continued over refreshments in the bustling Gallery café.
“I’m enjoying this so much, this is something I would never have thought of doing.”
Art appreciation talks
Creative art sessions
Art historical research and lectures
For groups unable to visit us, we take the Gallery to them! Participants can examine largescale, high quality reproductions of the Gallery’s paintings while our visiting teachers explain their story and history.
Creative workshops are led both at the Gallery and at partner sites by the Gallery’s talented artists and enable people to try a wide variety of art forms, from watercolours to printing or silk painting. Some people have not had the chance to be creative since they were at school; for some it is the opportunity to revive and develop a skill under expert guidance. The friendly atmosphere encourages social interaction, as our participants grow in confidence and take enormous pleasure and pride in their achievements.
For those who prefer more academic pursuits, we are developing joint research projects connected to the Gallery and the collection with the University of the Third Age. Lectures on specialist topics are arranged for groups of older people on request.
“I haven’t done any art since I was at school.”
Case study One pilot project was with the Intermediate Care Unit at Dulwich Hospital. Patients may stay in the Unit for up to three months, preparing to return home and live independently. The project had to be flexible enough for a changing group of participants with different skills, sometimes coping with mobility problems and disabilities such as difficulty in seeing fine detail.
Following a visit by patients to the Gallery, we provided artwork that could be carried on in the patients’ own rooms in between sessions, to help pass the time, but also to create a final piece of art of a high quality to be displayed in a public space. We ran creative sessions in the day room at the Unit where patients planned, designed and created a colourful, tactile wall hanging made of their own painted silk designs.
This beautiful hanging now has pride of place on the walls of the Unit, accompanied by a plaque commemorating all the patients involved in its production.
“You forget the pain.”
Reaching people at home
Making a difference
Keeping in contact
The isolated people who are most difficult to reach (some told us impossible!) are those older people who live alone at home and do not belong to any sort of club or community centre. We have recruited the help of our Gallery Friends network by asking Friends to invite an older neighbour or someone who finds it difficult to get out, to join them for a visit and tea at the Gallery. The Friend provides the transport and the companionship, and the Gallery provides a voucher for tea, making the event an enjoyable social occasion.
As well as offering the chance to develop a new skill or learn more about art, this programme can really encourage communication and spark enthusiasm. One group leader told us “You got everyone to sit down together, drawing. That’s something nobody else has managed to do”. Another noticed a real change in the mood of all the participants who usually just sat in the room, not talking to each other and drifting off to sleep. In our art sessions they began helping each other and didn’t want to finish even for lunch.
It is important to try to enable all our participants to keep up their newfound interest and stay in touch with the Gallery. After one year our programme reached over 600 older people. We invited participants back to summer garden parties at the Gallery where groups met up with one another, looked at more paintings with a guide and enjoyed a concert in the chapel, arranged just for them. They chatted over tea and delicious cakes made by all the gallery staff and sat in the lovely grounds.