Projects
Our Voices Were Heard
Elders Council, in partnership with Unfolding Theatre, recently led an exciting community theatre project to challenge ageism and celebrate the voices of older people in Newcastle. Building on the success of Just Us (2022) and development work in Kenton and Fawdon, this new project co-created a playful and thought-provoking performance that explored the themes of ageism, protest and the spirit of rebellion. A group of older people at the heart of the project, shaped each stage of its development through workshops and creative sessions resulting in the powerful performance: Our Voices Were Heard, at Newcastle City Library. This project highlighted the transformative power of the arts, community connections, and has inspired civic engagement.
Photo: courtesy of Von Fox promotions
Doorbells
Doorbells is a partnership project with Care and Repair England, Skimstone Arts and Northumbria University, funded by the Rayne Foundation. The project uses performance as a way of encouraging older people and their families to have conversations about how and where we live in later life and to seek advice about their options. A good, comfortable home is very important in later life, but we often end up in homes which are unsuited to our changing needs. In Autumn 2021, performances of ‘Doorbells: Dreaming for the Future’ were held in community venues across the city. The performances were followed by discussion groups. The insights from these conversations have been analysed and the findings will be used to influence policy and practice locally and nationally. More information about this project is also available on Skimstone Arts website.
The Experience of Ageing Amongst Chinese and South Asian Women in Newcastle
Elders Council teamed up with researchers Dr Bethan Harries and Molly Taylor from Newcastle University and local community organisations to explore women’s experiences of ageing. We worked with artist Sharon Bailey to facilitate creative focus groups with Chinese and South Asian women.
The research project was supported by Newcastle University Social Justice Fund
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Managing the Home Care Circus
We undertook a small-scale study into older people’s experiences of home care services. Our report gives an insight into the realities of securing good home care services that enable adults to remain at home, but with some choice and independence.
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We are sharing our findings with politicians, researchers and organisations working towards improving how people receive the support to enable them to live independently. We also produced a short animation of our key findings which you can find below.
Just Us Project
We worked with Unfolding Theatre to organise outreach sessions with a range of community groups to explore initial themes around age friendly communities. During the creativity week we used creative exploratory exercises such as making a map of an age friendly community and writing a manifesto. These were then developed in the performance called Just Us.