Let the Dance Begin
a Creative Community Well Being
Partnership Project
Arts Care / Pushkin Trust/Public Health Agency
Authors
Dr. Jenny ELLIOTT, Arts Care
Dr. Jonathan SKINNER, University of Roehampton
April 2014
The Research presented in this report was supported by:
• | The Public Health Agency
• | The Pushkin Trust
• | Arts Care
• | Strabane District Council
• | Western Health and Social Care Trust
LET THE DANCE BEGIN is a Partnership involving:
• | Arts Care
• | The Pushkin Trust
• | The Public Health Agency
Arts Care enables people in health and social care to transform
their lives through participation in creative activities
www.artscare.co.uk
The Pushkin Trust supports creative learning and education across Ireland,
opening every one of us up to the realm of imagination, inspiration and integration
www.pushkintrust.com
The Public Health Agency works to protect public health, improve public health
and social wellbeing, and reduce inequalities in health and social wellbeing
www.publichealth.hscni.net
Contents
Acknowledgements2
Executive Summary
3
1. Introduction
4
2. Project Aims and Objectives
2.1 Aims
2.2 Objectives
5
5
5
3. Reported Outcomes of the Pilot Project
7
4. The Strategic Intention of the Project in 10
relation to Strabane District Council
4.1 The Council’s Vision
10
4.2 Core Council Values
11
4.3 Design of the Project
12
5. Evaluations
5.1 Methods
5.2 Participant Questionnaires
5.3 Performance Night Sampling
5.4 Post-evaluation Reflection
14
14
14
18
19
6. Recommendations
21
7. Conclusion
22
References26
Appendix – Sample Evaluation
27
1
Acknowledgements
This report acknowledges with gratitude the dedication of Directors and staff working with and for The
Pushkin Trust and Arts Care and especially the devoted labours of the Duchess of Abercorn, Founder of the
Pushkin Trust; Dr Helen Canon, Director of the Pushkin Trust; Miss Dympna McNamee, The Pushkin Trust. Arts
Care are grateful for the funding and support from The Public Health Agency, the Western Health and Social
Care Trust, Strabane District Council and the project artists, environmentalists and the citizens of Strabane, as
well as to the following partners who accompanied us on this exceptional journey:
• The Alley Arts & Conference Centre
• Barrack Street Primary School
• Caffe Fresco
• Directors and Unit Managers of Health and Social Care Services in Strabane
• Education Other Than At School (EOTAS Unit)
• Gaelscoil Ui Dhochartaigh
• Glenside Adult Training Centre
• Graham Robinson & Associates Dental Services
• Grandparents of primary school children from St. Anne’s Primary School
• Greenfield Residential Home
• Holy Cross College
• Knockavoe School
• Koram Centre
• Melmount Manor Residential Care Services
• St Anne’s Primary School
• St Mary’s Primary School
• Strabane Academy
• Strabane Controlled Primary School
• Strabane Day Care Services
• Sure Start Services
A special word of thanks to Mary Black, Assistant Director, Public Health, (Health and Social
Well-being Improvement, The Public Health Agency); John Kerr, Manager of the Alley Arts & Conference
Centre; Karen McFarland, Head of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Strabane District Council and Jean Smyth, Arts
Development Officer, Strabane District Council and Elaine Way, Chief Executive Officer, Western Health and
Social Care Trust.
2
Executive Summary
The ‘Let the Dance Begin’ project was a six-week pilot project which aimed to locate creativity at the heart
of Strabane’s education, health and business communities. The programme was designed and built on
two existing key sustainable models of arts intervention as delivered in education and health and social
care by The Pushkin Trust (education) and Arts Care (health and social care).
Both of these Northern Ireland based charities have had significant local and international impact on
person-centred education and healthcare programmes over the last twenty-five years. The enclosed
evidence from both organisations demonstrates the positive and transforming impact that arts access,
creativity and participation in education and health and social care programmes have on individual and
community wellbeing. The Public Health Agency has been the key partner in the devising, supporting
and progression of the project.
3
1 Introduction
For the purpose of the six-week pilot, the project focused specifically on Strabane town with targeted schools,
healthcare settings and businesses invited to participate in a wide range of
arts and environmental activities.
The town was chosen because of its existing arts promotion, support of creative investment
and levels of social deprivation.
The project, which was delivered on time within the time frame of six weeks, involved all parties identified in
the proposal and met the aims, objectives and proposed outcomes as stated in the letter of offer.
The project was delivered through an expert creative workforce of established Arts Care and
Pushkin Trust Master Artists, Project Artists, Skylarks Performers and Creative Environmentalists in
the field of arts in education, healthcare, business and community. A comprehensive number of visual
art/dance/film-making/music/creative writing workshops/performances/exhibitions in schools, colleges,
healthcare settings and businesses was delivered over the six-week period throughout Strabane town.
4
2 Project Aims
and Objectives
2.1 Aims
The original aims and objectives of the intervention were to develop and facilitate an innovative creative,
organic approach to enhancing individual and community well-being and cohesion through a sustainable
model of creative engagement at the heart of community living.
2.2 Objectives
• To deliver a creative project which will contribute significantly to the vision, core values, aims
and objectives of the 2012-2015 Strabane Council and District Strategy.
• To provide the community citizens of all ages, genders, ability and religious diversity with creative
and cultural development opportunities which will contribute to transforming their quality of life
and enhance their community and overall sense of well-being.
• To contribute to increasing the individual and collective self-confidence in the town’s ability
to flourish.
• To foster the development of a life-long learning and healthy community through the provision
of appropriate and meaningful creative training opportunities in Education, Healthcare and
Community programmes.
• To promote creative business development within the community through creative and
cultural development programmes for staff and management.
•
To support and enable the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure’s concept that creativity is
central to all aspects of work, learning and leisure in Northern Ireland through ensuring effective
partnerships amongst organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors (Unlocking
Creativity: Making it Happen 2001).
• To develop a model of best partnership practice in the development and sustaining of a
creative community from the core of the citizen’s creativity.
• To unfold community prosperity through creative innovation
• To build vibrant, engaged, active and cohesive communities where every person can live up
to their full potential and feel a real sense of pride within their family, school, healthcare
and community.
• To support and potentially enhance existing programmes of health and well-being within
Strabane community.
• To provide high quality arts and environmental activities to socially excluded groups such as
older people and people with disabilities.
5
3 Reported Outcomes of
the Pilot Project
Increased levels of self-esteem and confidence
Increased levels of self-confidence were reported amongst all project participants and in particular amongst
all the participating primary school children, learning and physical disability adults and children, the young
people from Holy Cross College and the Education Other Than at School Unit (EOTAS).
Increased levels of social interaction and community cohesion
This was demonstrated in particular in the intergenerational elements of the project involving the primary
school children and their grandparents and the older people in day care. The management of the day
care settings reported that there was a marked increase in levels of social interaction amongst the older
participants during the arts activities.
It was also reported by a teacher of Strabane Controlled Primary School that the pupils gained greatly
from the high levels of interaction with the adults with disability. This element of the project introduced
many of the children for the first time to people with disabilities. This was also the case for the Gaelschoil Ui
Dhochartaigh, who shared workshops with the pupils from Knockavoe Special Education School.
Enhanced sense of well-being amongst participants through participation in enjoyable activities
Evaluation of the feedback highlights that one of the positive impacts of the project was that the participants
experienced an enhanced sense of well-being and feel good factor which contributed to them feeling more
positive. The performance elements of the project such as the dance and music gave the older participants in
particular a sense of fun as a result of taking part in an enjoyable creative activity.
Increased and wider links with community through development and fostering of key partnerships
The partnership of the Strabane District Council with the Public Health Agency and the Western Health and
Social Care Trust enabled a creative development that was located at the heart of Strabane community. The
final performance and pop up Art Studio provided a substantial outreach into community engagement with
the Let the Dance Begin activity accessing the people in Strabane to the six weeks of creative work developed
by the individual groups involved in the project. The performance proved a significantly successful element of
the project with all tickets for the performance sold.
All elements of the project aimed to increase wider links within the community. This was achieved in
particular through the intergenerational elements of the project when pupils and older people came together
to explore creative writing and painting. The older people, some of whom live with ageing conditions such
as Dementia and Parkinson’s Disease, reported that they enjoying meeting the schoolchildren and sharing
stories of their lives. The content of the paintings, conversations and writings revealed that the schoolchildren
and older people had a sense of shared pride in their town.
7
Enhanced healthcare and education environments
The project participants including staff created artwork during the project process that they installed in the
different environments such as schools, healthcare environments, Robinson Dental Surgery and Caffe Fresco.
Reports indicate that these art works have enhanced the participants’ environments and given a greater sense
of ownership.
Provision of a creative voice which articulates citizens’ experience and visioning of
community life in Strabane
The final performance and art exhibition provided an individual and collective voice for all the project
participants. The key message articulated through the performance and art works was that the participants
felt great pride in their town during the project and had experienced an increased self-confidence, identifying
a creative vision for the development of the project past the pilot project. There were multiple requests for
more access to sustained creative activity.
Increased independence for all age groups particularly young people and older people through
creative skill building
Staff and participants reported feeling more independent through learning new skills and accessing a new
activities such as painting, dancing, film-making etc. Healthcare staff and teachers supporting adults and
children with disability reported a significant increase in independence especially in the dance where the
participants were encouraged to develop new physical skills that they were able to transfer into their everyday
experience, e.g. working on balance, posture and accessing increased levels of physical fitness.
Life-long learning opportunities that increase choice through learning new art skills
across different art forms
The project offered a wide range of arts activities each with specific skills. Some groups experienced multiple
art forms and these groups reported an increase in choice through learning skills such as creative writing and
filmmaking both of which were offered for the first time to participants. Professional development training
was offered to the following groups:
1. Creative Training for Healthcare Staff/Teachers/Business Personnel-Healthcare Staff, Teachers and
Managers from the business sector in Strabane accessed through bespoke induction, training and
post reflection art workshops demonstrating new creative skills.
2.
Mentoring of Local Artists & Environmentalists via a group of nine local artists from the Strabane area
comprising of musicians, painters, a creative writer and a dancer participating in a weekend of
mentoring, professional skill-building and arts-based reflection at the Pushkin Trust, Baronscourt
Estate. The weekend workshops were facilitated by the Pushkin Trust and Arts Care Master Artists and
Environmentalists and offered local artists a creative space in which to reflect on their personal
creativity and enhance their creative professional practice in relation to developing the next phase
of the Let the Dance Begin Project.
8
Increased access and inclusion in the arts
One of the significant outcomes of the project was the increased access and inclusion in the arts with
regard to people with disability, older people with ageing illnesses such as Dementia and Stroke survivors
and early year’s participation beginning at two years old. All of these groups reported a high level of value
in terms of increased access to participation in the arts for people/children who may experience exclusion
due to age or ability.
9
4 The strategic intention of
the project in relation to
Strabane District Council
The project also contributed to the aims and five key objectives of the Strabane District Council’s
Corporate Strategy through the following:
4.1 The Council’s Vision
A Progressive and forward-looking district and council of which everyone can be proud
As the project progressed it became obvious that the participants were very proud of their town. The
themes developed by each setting were based on Strabane town, e.g. The Tinnies, How Strabane Got its
Name, The Rivers, The Allotment, The Parochial Avenue and the Area around St. Anne’s P.S. How Strabane
secured its name was a key focus of the project and gave the children in schools the opportunity to
creatively explore the history and myths of their local area resulting in a better understanding and
enhanced sense of pride in their town.
10
4.2 Core Council Values
The project contributed to the core values as follows:
• Accountability
Robust evaluation tools including questionnaires, semi-structure interviews, film documentation and artsbased evaluation tools were utilized to access the value and impact of the programme demonstrating a
thorough and transparent delivery at all times during and post project. The project was evaluated by a team
with representation from the Pushkin Trust and Arts Care and supported by an independent researcher Dr.
Jonathan Skinner, University of Roehampton, London.
• Teamwork
Stakeholders from the different sectors of the town such as teachers, healthcare professionals and business
personnel came together at the outset of the project and at certain stages of the project to contribute to the
development of all aspects of the project delivery. This encouraged a strong team of stakeholders who with
the support of the creative team (artists, Strabane District Council Arts Officer, the Artistic Director of the Alley
Theatre and staff ) delivered the project through process to product.
• Customer focused
The project was person-centered to meet the needs of all the project participants. At all stages of the project
delivery and post-project, the project participants were consulted.
• Professionalism
The Project accessed the arts in critical areas of community living. The engagement and expertise of the artists
and of the partnership organisations, Pushkin Trust, Arts Care, Strabane District Council, the Western Health
and Social Care Trust and the Public Health Agency ensured that the project at all stages adhered to the
highest standards of operation and delivery.
• Inclusiveness
A critical part of the implementation of this project was the focus on inclusiveness. The project design and
content contributed to the Council’s promotion of respect for each other, equality and the celebration of
diversity. This was achieved in the project by targeting key groups to participate within the community who
struggle with issues of inclusion and equality such as people with disabilities and older people. The project
encouraged intergenerational engagement and the young children from Strabane Controlled Primary School
were involved in developing a large-scale dance performance with the adults with learning and physical
disability from Glenside Adult Training Centre.
I now have made new friends and that makes me happy.
(Client with disability who attends Glenside Adult Training Centre)
11
4.3 Design of the Project
The project was a large-scale six-week creative community project that engaged Arts Care and the Pushkin
Trust as the key creative educators to consult, design and deliver a series of high quality participatory arts and
environmental activities from pre-school education to secondary level education and across a wide range of
health and social care services within the community.
The project encouraged a cross community/cultural, cross ability and intergenerational arts approach to
unfold the community’s creative energy.
A comprehensive programme of arts and environmental activity ensured that high numbers of citizens within
the community accessed and experienced high quality arts engagement. The Pushkin Trust and Arts Care’s
expert artists and environmentalists facilitated all elements of the arts programmes.
The project achieved the following:
• Successful working with five key partners; the Public Health Agency, The Pushkin Trust, Arts Care,
the Western Health and Social Care Trust and Strabane District Council
• A six-week arts and environmental project intervention
• The engagement of committed partners and participants from Education, Health, Business, Agencies
and Community Groups to take part in an innovative Arts and Creative Environmental Wellbeing Pilot
project in Strabane Town
• The project produced the development of bespoke arts training programmes for teachers, healthcare staff,
business managers and Strabane Council personnel to develop a vibrant and connected network of
creative facilitators within the local community who will encourage future participation in the arts
• The Project provided a mentoring model and visioning weekend for local artists from Strabane town
and area at Baronscourt Estate, Newtownstewart. The weekend workshops were facilitated by a group of
Master Artists from Pushkin Trust and Arts Care
•
The project developed innovative community-based programmes of arts engagement that involved
transforming ordinary community spaces into exhibition and performance spaces e.g. the pop up Art
Studio (Yarn Studio). This studio showcased to the people of Strabane all the artwork created during the
six-week project. An artist-in-residence provided workshops for the general public in Strabane to drop into.
Feedback from the passing public participants across a variety of age ranges proved positive with requests
for further drop in arts participation made available regularly in the town centre
•
There was a strong emphasis on Health Improvement and healthy living through cultural access and
participation. This was supported by the project team expertise and the supportive partnership guidance
of the multiple stakeholders including the Public Health Agency, the Western Health and Social Care Trust
and Strabane District Council
12
5 Evaluations
I have never met anyone with a disability. Working with the adults helped me understand in the dance how they
behave. It taught me a lot about disability. Showing how to care, be careful with them and guide them. I felt good
because you got to help them through the dance. …. They are gifted inside themselves.
(Strabane Controlled Primary School Pupil - dance evaluation)
5.1 Methods
The lived experience and response to the project was collected using four key evaluation tools.
Each tool engaged a different technique to elicit comprehensive feedback on the pilot project.
The evaluation tools were:
1. An extensive set of tailored questionnaires for each group of participants
2. Semi-structured interviews
3. Arts-based evaluation frameworks including film/artwork/performance analysis
4. A survey and street sampling from the final performance night, and a post-project
creative evaluation day
5.2 Participant Questionnaires
At first I felt quite embarrassed. I was very proud and got great feedback from my friends.
A little scared but I enjoyed it. Great experience. It built my confidence.
(Holy Cross Pupil – dance performance evaluation)
The questionnaires were particularly useful for qualitative insight into the experience of the project from
participants’ perspectives. Positive feedback is collated in the form of a collage (opposite). To draw out several
emerging themes, participants noted a significant sense of personal change, observed change in other
participants and how participants overall related to each other. This extended across schools, across age
groups and between ability groups.
The project fostered a strong sense of pride, joy and liveliness; it increased confidence, fostered an eagerness
to learn, and facilitated a desire to perform. It encouraged new forms of experiential learning, skill-building
and teamwork. This was recognized and appreciated in participants who now, to take an example with the
school children, are less reluctant to take their shoes and socks off, less reticent about relating to an older
person and more likely to interact with a peer with learning needs. Given the reach of this project, where the
target groups predominantly came from primary and secondary schools, the impact of this “experience of a
lifetime”, to quote one participant, is likely to be for a lifetime for these new proud citizens of Strabane.
14
Amazing
Awesome
Fun New Friends
Confidence
Awesome Talent
Joyful
Trustbuilding
Confident
Relaxing
Respect
Exciting
Great
Proud
Focus
Integrating
Fabulous
Friendship
Excellent Facilitator
Everything Great
Fun
Learning
Teamwork
Something New
The interaction between staff, client and children was exceptional.
The whole experience proved very positive for service users
from Glenside Adult Training Centre. … It enhanced their
independence, offered them the opportunity to engage with other
community groups and gave them a sense of achievement and
self-worth. … I feel it also heightened awareness of people with
learning disabilities in our community.
(Staff Member, Glenside Adult Training Centre for Adults with a
disability evaluation)
An inter-generational, inter-ability, cross-cultural, multidenominational project integrating education and health sectors
and headed by arts people with experience in their fields – these
are some of the strengths.
(Strabane Controlled Primary School Teacher Evaluation)
16
The questionnaires also made recommendations and suggestions for future phases following the pilot study.
These should be borne in mind for future project development.
• The inter-generational nature of the pilot fostered respect and understanding across the age groups.
• Exploration through dance and creative writing of the town’s history and how it secured its name was
very memorable for the majority of the participants including the audience. This contributed to the
reported sense of increased knowledge, increased pride and warmth associated with the place.
• Working with professional artist facilitators and environmentalists made it a unique experience.
• The use of Caffe Fresco during business hours extended the reach of the pilot.
• A small portion of feedback reflected that the final performance was perceived as too long.
• In some locations it was highlighted that the individual project activity could have been better
adapted to suit the individual and group needs of the residents, and the expectations of staff
need to be aligned with the brief given to the facilitator.
• Initially some pupils have reservations about dancing barefoot, if this can be taken on board.
• Consideration to be given for more than one performance to take place to accommodate more
people from the local and wider community having the opportunity to attend
• The policy on photography and dissemination needs to be carefully and consistently managed.
• Requested for subsequent phases: African drumming, sports workshop, Irish language facilitator,
puppetry, hip-hop dance, photography, a longer project.
It was good to work with people from the other school. That everyone’s different.
(Gaelscoil Ui Dhochartaigh)
17
5.3 Performance Night Sampling
The Let the Dance Begin project culminated in a large-scale dance performance/exhibition and celebration
walk through the town centre on 10th March 2014. A vox pop sampling was taken around the streets of
Strabane on the night of the performance. Fourteen people of varying ages and occupation were interviewed.
Only one person had heard of the project suggesting that more publicity and public engagement is possible
in any development project. This could perhaps be achieved through increased usage of street murals
and banners alongside the traditional means of communication (newspaper, school announcements and
organisation websites). Seventy-one per cent (71%) of respondents communicated a desire to be involved
from volunteering in-store publicity and joining in the events to providing premises in which to host events.
Members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Strabane District Council assisted with the
celebration walk, and also observed and reported being delighted by the exhibition.
A short-survey opportunity was given to all attending the performance. Whilst not statistically significant,
out of the 16 returns all respondents noted that they had heard about the event through immediate family
or through their children’s involvement in the performance. No respondents were currently involved in the
community arts. All respondents were very much in favour of the event: how it brings people together, fosters
a “better sense of co-operation” and encourages children to be “more thoughtful of others”, and wanting
“communities working together as a whole”. The attendance of approximately 300 people at the performance
event and upwards on 50 plus at the art exhibition provided the opportunity to develop and build a new
theatre and exhibition going audience within the town thus increasing understanding and appreciation of
the arts in a rural community context. One pertinent suggestion was to have a more developed cross-school
integration with shared activities bringing different school children together from across the multiple schools
in the town.
15
5.4 Post-Reflection Evaluation
The project held a post-reflection evaluation workshop for all the Stakeholders on 26th March 2014 in
Strabane Library, similar to the initial visioning day. It was facilitated through an interactive arts-based
reflective framework (Elliott 2012). It was an opportunity for those involved in hosting the project events
to evaluate on the experience of the project and to identify key learning from it. The evaluation workshop
elicited extensive amounts of feedback that was noted and recorded.
The capacity of the Arts Care, Public Health Agency, and the Pushkin Trust partnership proved invaluable,
breaking new ground for all three organisations, combining expertise to impact within healthcare, and
education settings. Targeting Strabane was an important opportunity to develop initial community building
work established through the “Strabane District, Your Future, Your Say” (Future Search Conference 2010). The
conference report refers to the achievement of common ground on the priority areas within the Strabane
District Council area and the secured agreement of shared visions for the future regeneration of the area.
There was an agreement amongst some of the Stakeholders that the Let the Dance Begin project was an
organic development of elements of the Future Search Vision.
There was the sense that the Let the Dance Begin project was providing a valuable skill-building opportunity
not only for the project participants - including teachers and healthcare professionals - but also for local artists
from Strabane town and vicinity. In this way, the new creative skill-building was establishing “a toolkit
of creative ideas for schools and a variety of healthcare settings”. Creative skill-building activities developed
“self-worth” in participants, brought a sense of pride to schools and a sense of place:
• The intergenerational aspect: younger people heard stories from an older generation.
• The older generation were very proud of where they came from and it flowed down.
• It brought them out of themselves. “Now, every time she hears about Strabane, she smiles!
There is an optimism and confidence fostered through the project, personal as well as civic transformation.
Samples of comments were as follows:
• It’s about people not having limitations.
• People became more natural and less inhibited, more intense and vibrant than before, more confident.
• I felt supported, anchored
• By the end, Strabane seemed to really come to life
• There are love elements in the project: tenderness in kids to adults and sensitivity in the teachers
• I feel that we’re much more centred now, with a strong team to move forward with. Anything is possible!
19
This critical stakeholder feedback should be capitalized on in the proposed follow up two-year project.
Subsequent follow-up phases of the Let the Dance begin project should be easier to manage and facilitate
with the groundwork pioneered in the pilot, and teams of facilitators and operators established.
The evaluation day also allowed for candid scrutiny of the pilot:
•
There was suggestion that the SkyLarks performance group of facilitators could have been more
sensitive to certain levels of responses in service users with advanced dementia. A suggestion from a
member of staff who observed the activity was that the red noses worn by the SkyLarks should be
removed where appropriate and dependent upon the responses of the participants during the activity.
•
There was a reflection that the pilot could have in some cases enhanced and not competed with the
school timetabling in what is a very intense and scheduled school environment. It was advised that
perhaps it would be helpful for the project team to work with the schools to dovetail activities and
show how the programme could enhance and contribute to the existing syllabus in new and
challenging ways. This was particularly apparent in the nature and environmental work that links
directly with existing curricular activities.
• There was discussion as to the length of the programme and its timing in the annual calendar.
Six to eight weeks of delivery was recommended, and suggestion came that the second week in
September to end of October would locate well in the school calendar timetable.
• The pilot was well provisioned, but there were some transport and funding issues that caused
pressure points in the delivery of such an extensive programme of events.
20
6 Recommendations
The following series of recommendations emerged from the evaluation process:
• To build on the evidence of the pilot project through a two-year phased developmental community
health and well-being project that will further embed and sustain access to arts activity and
creativity at the core of Strabane community life.
•
To further evaluate the proposed two-year project to secure a robust evidence base and a model
of best practice of community arts engagement that is transferable to other communities. It is
intended that the model will be disseminated with findings at conferences/workshops/seminars
and publications.
•
Securing all the funding at an earlier stage would have enabled the Let the Dance Begin pilot to
deliver earlier and within a more appropriate time scale within the school year. The project was
scheduled for September/October 2013 but due to full funding not being secured at that stage,
the project did not start until mid-January 2014. Stakeholders are recommending that funding be
secured earlier in the year with at least three months notice to arrange staff schedules to secure
appropriate support for the different elements of the project. The time of the year for project
delivery is not so critical in the healthcare sector but will be significant in any future development
of intergenerational arts activity where schools will be partnering with the older people healthcare
service sector.
• To further mentor and skill-build local artists through a shadowing scheme in the proposed
developmental project. This would increase local ownership, raise self-confidence and begin
to embed and sustain the delivery of creative activity at the core of the community.
•
To explore creating and increasing creative spaces in the centre of the town based on the pilot
of the pop up art studio. This is to site active creative engagement at the core of town life by
transforming vacant premises. This would serve to increase the visibility of project, extend town
centre footfall, and has the potential to attract new businesses into the town centre.
• Increased access to community groups, schools, healthcare and partnerships involving services
such as PSNI and Fire Authority during the proposed two-year project.
• Increased inter-agency work to increase the potential of arts activities and wider access to more
groups within Strabane such as community youth groups and older people’s groups, mental health
services, and ethnic minority groups.
• Follow up further creative skill-building for Healthcare Staff/Teachers/Managers/Business Personnel
post pilot to continue to increase creative access and sustainability within the community.
• Increased integration amongst schools involved in the project so that the schools in Strabane have
an opportunity to work creatively together.
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7 Conclusion
The report findings demonstrate that during the six-week intervention period the combined activity of
the arts and creative environmental exploration have made a significant contribution to wellbeing in
Education, Healthcare and Business settings within a town context. The findings highlight the significance
of combining the arts and exploration of the local town environment in areas such as church gardens,
graveyards, areas of derelict spaces, parks to change perceptions of the town thus instilling a sense
of renewed pride and confidence amongst the citizens. Questionnaire feedback indicated that the
children and young people in particular were actively involved in “re-imaging” their community through
expressions of art, dance, creative writing, music and film after exploring their local environment with the
project environmentalists.
Analysis of the data also demonstrated that the pilot project has succeeded in delivering its aims and
objectives, highlighting the role and positive impact of the arts and creative environmental exploration
in contributing to the overall health and wellbeing of a town and its citizens. The pilot activity has,
as it intended, managed to support the strategic aims and objectives of the funders through the key
partnership, namely the expertise and shared value base of the Pushkin Trust and Arts Care. The project
is the first such partnership project involving Arts Care and the Pushkin Trust and outcomes indicate that
both organisations can support and deliver a valuable and meaningful arts and environmental project that
has significant outreach into key services such as Education, Healthcare and Business in a town setting.
Although this was a contained six-week intervention project, as the project activities gained momentum
the stakeholder groups and participants gained increased creative confidence. The increase in personal
and collective confidence became apparent through the showcasing of the art works in the public
exhibition, the celebration walk and the performance. The participants reported having a real sense
of achievement and pride in what they had created during the project. Data also demonstrated that
significant creative learning had taken place across all the age groups and abilities involved thus resulting
in a sense of empowerment and new beneficial perceptions of self, other and environment.
Active inquiry into their town environment through a series of short exploratory walks and historic factfinding enabled the young people and children to bring their experience of the outside environment
into not only their classroom environments, but also into day care settings where they worked creatively
alongside older people, many of whom live with ageing conditions such as Dementia and Parkinson’s
disease. The ability for the young people to bring the outside environment into health environments
opened new links for the older people into their community and enhanced their ability to imagine and
vision for a future.
The intergenerational opportunities provided within the project gave the older people and the young
people the opportunity to explore meaning in their lives and to understand each other’s histories. The
shared telling of stories and life experiences through creative writing, music and dance opened better
channels of understanding and communication across generations. This is particularly significant as people
live longer and present with ageing conditions that can lead to isolation due to misunderstanding and fear
of the unknown. Developing the intergenerational potential of the pilot study in the proposed follow up
project would prove valuable in increasing opportunities for more inclusion and better understanding of
older people in community life.
22
This active creative learning experience also contributed significantly to bringing about a better understanding
of people/young people who live with a learning or physical disability. Through the mixed ability dance,
drama and creative writing activities young people gained through an experiential and shared learning model
what it is like to live with the challenges of having a disability. The project held central to its person-centred,
democratic approach, an inclusive model of arts and environmental participation. This was celebrated and
honored through the performance showcase where all ages and abilities came together to express their
individual and collective experiences of the project.
The performance showcase and art exhibition offered the people of Strabane who attended the events an
opportunity to move into a creative space where they could see a wider picture of community life and where
their previously held perceptions of age and ability were provoked and challenged. Significant feedback
from parents and teachers indicated that the performance and art exhibition contributed to changing their
perceptions of what young people, older people and adults with disability could achieve. It was reported that
children and young people who perhaps struggled in the normal classroom setting appeared to flourish in
the project activity. This was particularly pertinent in the EOTAS setting were the young people expressed their
experiences through the creation and production of a short film.
There has been significant learning from the pilot that will inform the design and delivery of proposed future
development of the pilot activity. There have been requests from all of the participating groups for further
access to arts activities on a more sustained basis. The significant requests for sustainable access to creative
participation and arts/creative environmental training in Strabane town offers critical evidence for the
development of the pilot study design for the project partners. It has been suggested that the proposed follow
up project would take place over a further two-year period to enable the provision of a more comprehensive
delivery across different formats e.g. a six-week delivery design as implemented in the pilot study or the
delivery of arts/environmental activities over a longer period of six to eight months. The delivery format would
be designed to meet the requirements of the stakeholder groups. The longer period of delivery would also
afford an increased level of contribution to the project development by the stakeholders and participants thus
resulting in increased ownership and autonomy. This increased timeline of creative investment would require
increased funding to support activities across the two-year period.
The success of the introduction of more digital-based arts activities, in particular amongst the younger
participants, has resulted in requests for more digital art experiences to build on the existing skills that the
young people have developed during the pilot project. The digital film activity has been beneficial in particular
amongst the young participants from the EOTAS group. The benefits have centred on the young people’s
increased interest in their local environment through capturing community experience on film and creating
soundscapes from the town to provide a meaningful soundtrack for their short film work. The learning gained
from this arts activity has contributed to increased levels of learning and focus within the group and levels of
increased motivation in the learning process have also been reported. These new digital skills could be shared
with older people through increased intergenerational activity engaging in a cross-generational mentoring
approach in the proposed two year developmental project.
23
The evaluation evidence secured from the six-week plot project indicates that a two year post-pilot project
would be highly beneficial. Further embedding of the arts and creative environmental activity in community
life could significantly contribute to transforming the quality and perceptions of life in the town of Strabane by
enhancing the levels of health and wellbeing despite the on-going challenges of the current socio-economic
climate. A two-year follow up project would provide the opportunity for the creative workforce and Let the
Dance Begin team to build on the Future Search activity of 2010 and the initial arts and creative environmental
activity provided in the pilot project. This would secure a more ambitious outreach with new groups and
agencies across the community and locate creativity permanently in the heart of Strabane. It is anticipated that
a robust evaluation of a more comprehensive delivery of arts/environmental activity in a follow-up two year
project would also provide significant evidence base and learning to develop a viable transferable model of
Arts/Environment, Community Health and Wellbeing.
Arts Care and The Pushkin Trust would like to thank all the project funders: Strabane District Council, the
Public Health Agency, and the Western Health and Social Care Trust for their support at all the stages of the
project. It has enabled both organisations to increase their capacity to deliver increased arts access to a specific
community setting.
21
The Project Team
Project Directors
Project Environmentalists
The Duchess of Abercorn
Lynn Greer
Dr Jenny Elliott
Jess Webb
Project Co-ordinator
Project Film-maker
Dympna McNamee
Matthew Adamson
Project Evaluation Team
Photographers
Dr Jonathan Skinner
Henry Duggart
Dr Helen Canon
Raymond McCarron
Dr Jenny Elliott
Davey Ralston
Dympna McNamee
Graphic Designer
Project Administrators
Alan Diver
Denise Mullan
Project Support
Amanda Turnbull
James Garvey
Project Artists
Elaine Agnew
Bronagh-Corr McNicholl
Carmel Garvey
Michelle Garvey
Grainne Kielty
Ritchie McClelland
Cian O’Reilly
Deirdre McKay
Justyn McNicholl
Luke Porter
Helen Shields
Gwen Stevenson
25
References
Elliott, J. (2012) “Beyond Frames: the Creation of a Dance Company in Healthcare through the Journey of Brain Trauma.”
In J. Skinner (Ed.), Writing the Dark Side of Travel. Oxford: Berghahn Books, pp. 143-162.
Future Search Conference (2010), Strabane District, Your Future, Your Say.
http://www.strabanedc.com/filestore/documents/future%20search%20final%20report.pdf
Hanna, J. (2000) Dancing for Health: Conquering and Preventing Stress. Toronto: AltaMira Press.
Kaye, C. and T. Blee (eds) (1997) The Arts in Health Care: A Palette of Possibilities. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Melucci, A. (1996) The Playing Self: Person and meaning in the planetary society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Parkin, D., L. Caplan and H. Fisher (eds) (1996) The Politics of Cultural Performance. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
DCAL (2001) Unlocking Creativity: Making it Happen
http://www.dcalni.gov.uk/index/arts_and_creativity/unlocking_creativity_initiative.htm
26
Appendix - Sample Evaluation
‘Let the Dance Begin’ Evaluation
Name of Group
Year Group
Name of Participant (optional)
Date of Workshops
Creative Workshop:
Facilitator
1. Did you enjoy participating in the ‘Let the Dance Begin’ project?
YES
NO
Please tell us why:-
2. What was your favourite part of the project?
3. Was there anything that you did not enjoy about the project?
YES
NO
Please tell us why:-
4. What did you learn about Dance by taking part in the project?
5. What did you learn about your own town of Strabane by taking part in the project?
6. Do you feel more confident in your ability to dance having taken part in the project?
YES
NO
7. Were there opportunities for sharing your ideas in the project?
YES
NO
Please tell us why:-
8. Did you learn a lot about working as part of a team by taking part in the project?
YES
NO
9. Did taking part in the project allow you the time to get to know some of your class mates better?
YES
NO
10. Before the ‘Let the Dance Begin’ project did you know anyone with a disability?
YES
NO
Please tell us more:-
11. Before the ‘Let the Dance Begin’ project how did you feel about people with a disability?
Please tell us why:-
12. Did working with the adults from Glenside help with your understanding of people with disability?
Please tell us why:-
13. What did you learn about working with the adults from Glenside?
14. Did you form new friendships with the adults?
15. Would you take part in another project where you were working with people with disability?
YES
NO
Please tell us why:-
16. How did you feel about performing in the Alley Theatre at the end of the project?
17. Would you like to participate in another creative arts project?
18. What workshops would you like to see included (environment, music, art, dance, writing)?
19. What changes would you make in this project to make it better?
20. Have you any other suggestions/comments to make?
THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO COMPLETE THIS EVALUATION FORM