Arts Council England and the Baring Foundation are jointly providing a £1 million fund that aims to increase opportunities for older people (aged 60 and over) in residential care in England to get involved in the arts.
The key aims of the programme are to:
• Encourage residential care providers in partnership with arts organisations to commit to and invest in on-going programmes that give residents access to high quality arts experiences
• Establish a series of sustainable, exemplar, programmes of arts and engagement activity giving older people in residential care access to a wide range of quality arts experiences as audiences and participants
• Showcase artistic excellence in residential care settings and stretch aspiration for the range of arts that residents can access and experience outside of the care setting (e.g. visits to local arts venues and events)
• Develop tools and resources for more residential care providers to adopt on-going programmes of arts engagement activity and to provide practical support for them to identify appropriate artists and local arts opportunities
• Support the professional development of residential care staff to increase their confidence to deliver arts engagement programmes in their care settings
• Support the professional development of artists to create collaborative arts projects with older people, their carers and the wider community
• Through documentation, evaluation and dissemination stimulate debate and share learning about approaches to engaging older people in care in the arts and inspire others to develop best practice
• Demonstrate the role of the arts in providing a voice for older people and bring local communities and people in care homes closer together
The initiative will run for three years and is seeking proposals from partnerships led by either residential care providers or arts organisations. The programme aims to support partnerships between arts organisations and artists with those helping older people in care homes to deliver interesting enjoyable and interactive arts experiences for their residents.
Eligible consortia groups must be properly constituted as an organisation, based in England and able to make available copies of their governance documentation.
These organisations can be:
• Limited companies registered at Companies House
• Community interest companies (CIC) registered with the CIC regulator
• Charitable incorporated organisation
• Charities or trusts registered with the Charity Commission
• Limited liability partnerships registered at Companies House
• Partnerships established under a Deed of Partnership
• Industrial and provident societies or community benefit societies subject to regulation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA)
• Royal Charter companies
• Statutory bodies
• Museums and libraries
• Local authorities
• Specialists who work with older people
Experiences supported by the fund will encourage older people to become actively involved in the arts, both as audience members and as participants.
The £1 million fund will be shared between an anticipated four eligible consortia applications with funding being spent between January 2014 and January 2017.
For further information and to apply, visit: www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/arts-and-older-people-care-commissioned-grant/
Deadline: Wednesday 14 August 2013