How Artlink West Yorkshire has used visual arts and crafts to engage and connect people in care settings in Leeds
After 14 months Artlink West Yorkshire's Creative Toolkits project is coming to an end. During the pandemic they have delivered over 4,800 art packs, 72 Zoom meetings and 144 ‘How To’ films to over 200 adults with learning disabilities and older people living in residential care, including people living with dementia. They’ve presented at the International Culture, Health and Wellbeing Conference as part of a panel outling approaches supporting people with disabilities to stay engaged during COVID.
At the start of March 2020 they could never have imagined that Creative Toolkits would have happened and that together they would have shared so many connections and experienced such joy and fun. They’ve explored activities such as weaving, kaleidoscopes, peg bird puppets, mini-films and peep books. They have explored themes including dreaming, memories, sunrises and sunsets, mystery, and autumn. They have also learnt about work by a range of artists and authors such as Liz West, Olafur Eliasson, Lois Ehlert and Alexander Calder.
Remote working was completely new for Artlink however, participants and support staff have all risen to the challenge and are enjoying being creative and socialising online.
In relation to an early session Becci, a support worker from Aspire, said: “We had a cracking morning at Holmsley! We all created our backdrops and starting creating our puppets and stories, we will continue next Wednesday! They loved chatting to everyone on Zoom. Thank you again for the activity pack!”
An evaluation report will be available in due course with an exhibition showcasing the people involved and their artwork but for now, you can view some of the photos of participants and hopefully sense the pride people have felt in their work.
“What a shame it has come to an end, thank you so much for everything you have done during this project. At the height of the pandemic Artlink helped the people we support have something to engage in during the very scary and isolating time and I want to thank you so much for that. I hope we can work together soon too hopefully in real life!” Ailsa Ryder, ENE Involvement Coordinator, Aspire CBS
You can watch Artlink's appearance at the International Culture, Health and Wellbeing Conference here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9iyjNwLz4Q and learn more about their work on their website: https://artlinkwestyorks.org/