This wonderful project has been recognised by the national Family Arts Campaign for their outstanding contribution to age-friendly arts and culture in 2023-24.
Wiltshire Music Centre is thrilled to share that the Celebrating Age Wiltshire project, for which Wiltshire Music Centre is lead partner, has won the Best Age-Friendly Outreach Award in the Fantastic for Families Awards 2024 for their men’s ‘Creative Conversations’ project strand. These national awards celebrate outstanding opportunities created for families and older audiences to access creative opportunities and enhance wellbeing through arts and cultural activities.
Developed in the pandemic, Creative Conversations offers one to one and small group creative sessions for people aged 65+ who are socially isolated. Led by an experienced creative facilitator, participants are encouraged to take ownership of the content and the topics shared, and the groups often continue to be peer-led, with lasting connections between participants. In 2024, recognising that over 80% of participants were women, or men accompanied by women, we piloted sessions especially for isolated men over 65 in Melksham Library, The group enjoy discussion, delving into heritage and history, selecting music choices, telling stories, reading aloud and more.
“This group reminds me that I’m glad to be alive, reminds me I am alive… that I’m able to make it along each week. I can listen to views; it’s amazing – the variety of interpretations on an item we discuss.” – Participant
The group wrote the song ‘We Are The Grey People’, with some members recording with songwriter Bob Heath – take a listen below. The sessions currently run in Melksham library on Tuesdays 11.30 – 13.00, and the project is expanding to other areas in Wiltshire.
We Are The Grey People
Award-winners were selected out of over 150 applications, initially shortlisted to 26 organisations from across the United Kingdom. Each of the shortlisted projects were recognised and celebrated by the Family Arts Campaign through sharing their Stories of Family Arts engagement, ahead of the winners being announced.
The Best Age-Friendly Outreach Award recognises outreach approaches provided specifically for older people, such as age-friendly activities, events, creative resources, or broader forms of support and outreach. This year’s judges for this category were Natalie Turner, Deputy Director for Localities at Centre for Ageing Better and Rebecca Bayliss, Age-friendly Programme Manager at the Centre for Ageing Better.
“It was such a strong category – it was hard to choose, but in the end the winner for us had a particularly clear narrative around working with older people to identify and then respond to a gap in provision. In this case older men, a group at particular risk of social isolation, as well as this then leading to ongoing engagement for participants, including peer led.” – Natalie Turner, Deputy Director for Localities at Centre for Ageing Better
Rebecca Seymour, Creative Producer for Celebrating Age Wiltshire, says: “It is really special to be recognised with this award for our Creative Conversations project. The Melksham men’s group, aged 68 – 93, gain so much from coming together each week, as many of them live alone and/or struggle to get out due to health issues, mobility, bereavement and social isolation. There is a bond and understanding between them since starting the sessions and many of them are now trying new activities such as cooking and art workshops together as well as our weekly sessions.”
Fantastic For Families Awards are given by Family Arts Campaign, which is the largest national, cross-art form initiative to increase access to arts and culture for families of all ages. The Family Arts Campaign is funded by Arts Council England and is a National Portfolio Organisation within the national Let’s Create strategy.
Visit https://www.familyarts.co.uk/2024-winners/ to find out more and see the full list of Fantastic For Families Awards winners.
