Funding boost for city arts project
ARTS ACTIVITIES WILL AIM TO HELP COMBAT LONELINESS IN OLDER PEOPLE
An innovative project to help combat loneliness and isolation in a group of vulnerable older people has received funding from the Big Lottery Fund.
Sunderland’s Music, Arts and Culture (MAC) Trust applied for Lottery funding to support an initiative it is delivering with the Cultural Spring, an Arts Council England fund organisation working to increase the numbers of people participating in the arts on Wearside and South Tyneside.
The Big Lottery Fund has announced it will give the project £4,750, adding to £3,000 already committed by the Cultural Spring, £1,000 from the Francis Winham Foundation and £750 from the Sir John Priestman Charity Trust.
The total cost of the project will be £11,000 and the MAC Trust is seeking further funding.
“We aim to help a group of 20 vulnerable older people to re-engage with the community, make new friends and eliminate growing isolation,” said MAC trustee John Mowbray.
“Working with the Cultural Spring, we’ll provide artists to contact people in their own homes or in care homes.
“The older people will be introduced to various art forms and ways explored to support and encourage them to engage with social events – and to participate in arts activities outside of their own homes.
“We firmly believe that the project will have a positive and lasting impact for the individuals involved in the project.”
Emma Horsman, project director for the Cultural Spring, added: “The older people themselves will choose the art forms that they are most interested in – these may include music, story-telling, crafts or movement.
“We’ll identify ten older people in Sunderland and ten in South Tyneside for a pilot programme to see what impact our activities can have. The programme will last 30 weeks.
“A first phase will involve planning with the artists and carers; a second stage relationship building with the elderly people and the last stage will involve 25 weeks of structured and personalised activity.”