Bloomsbury Festival in a Box: engaging socially isolated people with dementia
Lead Research Organisation:
University of London
Department Name: School of Advanced Study
Abstract
The Bloomsbury Festival is an established annual event dedicated to celebrating the cultural, intellectual and social wealth of Bloomsbury and its diverse communities. A registered charity, the festival supports community projects year-round that inspire positive change in people's lives through the creation of beautiful art. Via the AHRC-funded Bloomsbury Festival Cultural Engagement Project hosted by the School of Advanced Study, University of London (Feb-May 2013), in 2013 the Festival has drawn upon the interdisciplinary humanities research expertise in the School of Advanced Study to develop and refine its cultural engagement programme. Specifically, it has sought to find a means of both extending and critically interrogating the impact of its work with hard-to-reach and vulnerable social groups in the Bloomsbury and broader Camden areas. Identifying older people with dementia as a core population capable of multi-sensory cultural engagement, but typically unable to participate in the Festival's outreach programme, an early outcome of this project has been the establishment of a reciprocal relationship with Age UK Camden's Dementia Befriending Service, which supports people living with dementia in Camden.
Working closely with this service, and drawing upon the expertise of Dr Claudia Cooper--honorary consultant old age psychiatrist to the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust--the 'Bloomsbury Festival in a Box' project will between August and October 2013 develop, trial, and analyse a peripatetic 'Festival in a Box' outreach project that takes boxes of materials associated with the Festival out to people unable to leave their homes to take part in cultural life. As well as being therapeutic devices, these boxes will form innovative research vessels that will gather qualitative data on the value of cultural participation among older people with dementia in Camden. Carefully designed to include a range of sensory and cultural materials that will prompt narrative responses and recollections from service users, the Bloomsbury Festival boxes will engender social stimulation as well as interests in new activities, ideas and experiences among those living with dementia. The project will therefore benefit not only the individuals directly involved, but the broader research community.
The Bloomsbury Festival in a Box will offer service users a unique opportunity to participate in a cultural event from which they would normally be excluded, and will in turn raise awareness of those living with dementia via a highly respected cultural forum. Moreover, it will offer those living with dementia an opportunity to share their knowledge and stories of the area, providing history and insight into Bloomsbury and the surrounding locale. As some service users have lived in the area for many years, participation in the outreach programme will not only be an opportunity for them to actively re-engage with community life, but also to participate in re-narrating the history of Bloomsbury itself. Over the course of weekly visits to the homes of service users, these boxes will become miniature 'archives of engagement', gathering rich and unusual data over the course of the outreach experience.
A high level of interest in the proposed research project is anticipated, both within the area and on a national scale. Reflecting this, the final results of the project will be disseminated via a website and an academic publication, and via a one day event that will bring together practitioners and researchers in fields of gerontology and arts and health for a knowledge exchange opportunity intended to further the sharing of expertise and research methodologies in this field.
Working closely with this service, and drawing upon the expertise of Dr Claudia Cooper--honorary consultant old age psychiatrist to the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust--the 'Bloomsbury Festival in a Box' project will between August and October 2013 develop, trial, and analyse a peripatetic 'Festival in a Box' outreach project that takes boxes of materials associated with the Festival out to people unable to leave their homes to take part in cultural life. As well as being therapeutic devices, these boxes will form innovative research vessels that will gather qualitative data on the value of cultural participation among older people with dementia in Camden. Carefully designed to include a range of sensory and cultural materials that will prompt narrative responses and recollections from service users, the Bloomsbury Festival boxes will engender social stimulation as well as interests in new activities, ideas and experiences among those living with dementia. The project will therefore benefit not only the individuals directly involved, but the broader research community.
The Bloomsbury Festival in a Box will offer service users a unique opportunity to participate in a cultural event from which they would normally be excluded, and will in turn raise awareness of those living with dementia via a highly respected cultural forum. Moreover, it will offer those living with dementia an opportunity to share their knowledge and stories of the area, providing history and insight into Bloomsbury and the surrounding locale. As some service users have lived in the area for many years, participation in the outreach programme will not only be an opportunity for them to actively re-engage with community life, but also to participate in re-narrating the history of Bloomsbury itself. Over the course of weekly visits to the homes of service users, these boxes will become miniature 'archives of engagement', gathering rich and unusual data over the course of the outreach experience.
A high level of interest in the proposed research project is anticipated, both within the area and on a national scale. Reflecting this, the final results of the project will be disseminated via a website and an academic publication, and via a one day event that will bring together practitioners and researchers in fields of gerontology and arts and health for a knowledge exchange opportunity intended to further the sharing of expertise and research methodologies in this field.
Planned Impact
'Bloomsbury Festival in a Box: engaging socially isolated people with dementia' will have significant impact upon a number of fronts. Firstly, the research will seek to directly enhance the quality of life of older people living in isolation within Bloomsbury. Older residents taking part in the study will be offered a unique opportunity to engage with a cultural event (the Bloomsbury Festival) from which they have previously been excluded. Furthermore, by developing the collaborative relationships between academic, cultural, and community outreach organisations in the Bloomsbury area forged by the AHRC-funded Bloomsbury Festival Cultural Engagement Project, the research will also present an opportunity to strengthen the support network available to older people in Camden in a broader sense.
Researchers and staff working on the project will benefit from working closely with older people in Camden, furthering academic skills in non-academic environments. Furthermore, the nature of the project's initial outcomes: in the form of a launch exhibition and debate, followed by academic publications and a knowledge share event, will benefit the broader academic community in the fields of social healthcare, gerontology, and arts and health.
The dissemination of the first phase of the project via a high profile cultural event (the Bloomsbury Festival) will benefit the local community and the general public by raising awareness and encouraging debate around issues of ageing, dementia, and social isolation in contemporary Britain. This event will in itself work to explore the value of cultural activity in challenging stigma and prejudice in these areas. Both the Bloomsbury Festival and Age UK Camden will thus benefit from the project not only by being able to use the data gathered to more accurately refine their services and community engagement activities in the Camden area, but by raising awareness of their broader programme of outreach activities. Age UK Camden, particularly, will benefit from raising awareness of its volunteer 'Dementia Befriending Service'.
In the longer term, the research will influence further innovations in community outreach and engagement, and is designed to help influence policy decisions concerning social outreach and care for the elderly. Success factors taken from the research will lay grounding for the development of further innovations within the field, and may form a reference for training those working with socially isolated older people.
Researchers and staff working on the project will benefit from working closely with older people in Camden, furthering academic skills in non-academic environments. Furthermore, the nature of the project's initial outcomes: in the form of a launch exhibition and debate, followed by academic publications and a knowledge share event, will benefit the broader academic community in the fields of social healthcare, gerontology, and arts and health.
The dissemination of the first phase of the project via a high profile cultural event (the Bloomsbury Festival) will benefit the local community and the general public by raising awareness and encouraging debate around issues of ageing, dementia, and social isolation in contemporary Britain. This event will in itself work to explore the value of cultural activity in challenging stigma and prejudice in these areas. Both the Bloomsbury Festival and Age UK Camden will thus benefit from the project not only by being able to use the data gathered to more accurately refine their services and community engagement activities in the Camden area, but by raising awareness of their broader programme of outreach activities. Age UK Camden, particularly, will benefit from raising awareness of its volunteer 'Dementia Befriending Service'.
In the longer term, the research will influence further innovations in community outreach and engagement, and is designed to help influence policy decisions concerning social outreach and care for the elderly. Success factors taken from the research will lay grounding for the development of further innovations within the field, and may form a reference for training those working with socially isolated older people.
Publications
Eades M
(2018)
'Festival in a Box': Development and qualitative evaluation of an outreach programme to engage socially isolated people with dementia.
in Dementia (London, England)
Title | Bloomsbury Festival exhibition |
Description | A two-day exhibition and outreach workshop at the Bloomsbury Festival |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2014 |
Impact | xxx |
Title | Festival in a Box: Archives |
Description | 'Festival in a Box: archives' was a two month exhibition at the Leeds College of Art (September-November 2015). The exhibition drew together selected texts, objects and artefacts from from the archives assembled during the AHRC-funded research project 'Bloomsbury Festival in a Box: engaging socially isolated people with dementia'. Also on display were are series of original photographs, inspired by the contents of the archives. The exhibition was seen by approximately 2, 000 people. |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Impact | The exhibition was part of a 'Curator's Choice' series of exhibits designed to showcase innovative research-practice. The display was designed to engage students and staff at the Leeds College of Art with research-based arts and health work. The exhibition was timed to coincide with the College's fresher's week and as such was seen by over 2, 000 people. |
URL | http://www.leeds-art.ac.uk/news-events/events-exhibitions/2015/09/24/curators-choice-michael-eades/ |
Title | Objects in Time |
Description | 'Objects in Time' was a performance and installation that encouraged participants you to step outside their own world and into another's. The performance invited guests to a blindfolded dinner where, using only sound and touch, they experienced a family's reality living with dementia This performance was developed with Three Girls Design as part of the Bloomsbury Festival 2017 - as an artists' response to materials gathered during the Bloomsbury Festival in a Box project. It engaged around 300 people at the 2017 festival. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Impact | This project engaged a significant number of people at the Bloomsbury Festival, and also offered a development opportunity for the young artists involved in putting it together. |
URL | http://bloomsburyfestival.org.uk/events/event/objects-in-time-three-girls/ |
Description | Bloomsbury Festival in a Box: engaging socially isolated people with dementia researched, implemented and analysed a pilot scheme for engaging people with dementia in the arts. A collaboration between the School of Advanced Study, University College London, the Bloomsbury Festival, and Age UK Camden-the project took a 'festival in a box' experience into the homes of six people living alone and with dementia in Bloomsbury and Camden. The project sought to create a miniature and peripatetic version of the Bloomsbury Festival that would be tailored to the needs of people living with dementia, which would allow them to share insights into their lives in the area. 'Archives' of the engagement process were collected for each participant, and their contents analysed via a multi-disciplinary narrative research framework. This multidisciplinary approach-with primarily qualitative, but also quantitative components-combined literary and textual analysis, cultural and social history, interpretative phenomenological analysis, narrative gerontology and old age psychiatry. Key findings from the project included: 1) the successful trial and analysis of the first arts engagement activity working with people with dementia in their own homes 2) insight into methodologies used in measuring impact of arts and health initiatives (3) a new method of empowering people with dementia to narrate stories and to interweave those story with a broader narrative of place. Findings from the project have been disseminated via a range of mediums, including an exhibition and workshop during the Bloomsbury Festival in October 2013, a project blog, and a knowledge-share day bringing together academics, professionals and practitioners in fields of arts and health, gerontology, cultural and community provision from across the UK. The Festival in a Box has also been displayed at festivals and art spaces across the UK, including the Luminate Festival and the Leeds College of Art. The project has generated considerable interest from these outputs. |
Exploitation Route | The 'Festival in a Box' social outreach programme is now a regular part of Bloomsbury Festival, so that local isolated people with dementia continue to be included in the event. Moreover, selected materials from the 'Festival in a Box' have been on public display in arts spaces across the UK and we hope this will advocate for inclusion of arts in dementia care and people with dementia as involved citizens in community arts festivals. If larger scale studies are also positive, the project could provide a format for inclusion of people with dementia in other festival and public events, so that 'dementia friendly' festivals and events can contribute to our collective vision of 'dementia friendly communities'. |
Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Healthcare,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
URL | http://festivalinabox.blogs.sas.ac.uk/ |
Description | Findings from the 'Bloomsbury Festival in a Box' project have fed into the Bloomsbury Festival's year-round engagement activities. The Festival in a Box programme is now a well established local outreach scheme, entering into a new stage of activity in 2019. |
First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
Sector | Creative Economy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | Citation in Understanding the Value of Arts and Culture: The AHRC Cultural Value Project |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Citation in systematic reviews |
Impact | The Festival in a Box project was cited as part of 'Understanding the Value of Arts and Culture', the final report on the AHRC's Cultural Value project. This report has made an impact both nationally and internationally. |
URL | http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/documents/publications/cultural-value-project-final-report/ |
Description | Ongoing 'Bloomsbury Festival in a Box' outreach scheme |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | Following a successful pilot as part of the AHRC-funded research project 'Bloomsbury Festival in a Box: engaging socially isolated people with dementia', the 'Festival in a Box' outreach scheme is now running on a sustainable basis as the Bloomsbury Festival's year-round community engagement programme. In 2016 it engaged with around 40 people with dementia in the Bloomsbury/Camden area. |
URL | http://bloomsburyfestival.org.uk/festivalstories/festival-in-a-box/ |
Description | Bloomsbury Festival collaborative partnership |
Organisation | Age UK |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Initiated and research an arts outreach programme working with the Bloomsbury Festival and Age UK Camden. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Bloomsbury Festival supported this project by offering liaison with local artists and access to various cultural resources. Age UK Camden supported the project by offering advice, support and training in liaising with their network of dementia befrienders. |
Impact | The creation of a Bloomsbury Festival in a Box for use with isolated people with dementia. Collaboration on Festival in a Box 'open archives' website. |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | Bloomsbury Festival collaborative partnership |
Organisation | Bloomsbury Festival |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Initiated and research an arts outreach programme working with the Bloomsbury Festival and Age UK Camden. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Bloomsbury Festival supported this project by offering liaison with local artists and access to various cultural resources. Age UK Camden supported the project by offering advice, support and training in liaising with their network of dementia befrienders. |
Impact | The creation of a Bloomsbury Festival in a Box for use with isolated people with dementia. Collaboration on Festival in a Box 'open archives' website. |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | 'Still invited to the party?'. Article in Arts Professional |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Article detailing learning from the 'Festival in a Box' project for Arts Professional, a leading trade journal for practitioners in the arts. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/293/case-study/still-invited-party |
Description | Age Camp: Leeds |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Age Camp: Leeds was an 'unconference' style event hosted by Leeds City Council. It was an open event for Leeds residents, service providers and technologists to get to come together to share ideas about how to make Leeds an Age Friendly Smart City. I was invited to attend this event to present a session on the Festival in a Box project as an example of research-practice responding to Age Friendly Cities themes. This event reached a mixed audience of local residents, local councillors, arts and third-sector professionals. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://michaeleades.net/2015/06/07/an-unconference-in-a-box-age-camp-leeds-june-2015/ |
Description | An Everyday Archive: Bloomsbury Festival in a Box |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited paper for Everyday Creativity, Everyday Resilience research seminar, University of Newcastle. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/annagoulding/2014/07/09/everyday-creativity-everyday-resilience-2nd-seminar/ |
Description | Boxes of Delight: surrealism at 90 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | In October 2014 I was invited to speak and deliver a workshop at the Institute of Advanced Study in the Humanities (IASH), University of Edinburgh, organised by Dr Catriona Mcara as part of Luminate: Scotland's Festival of Creative Ageing. This event linked my Bloomsbury Festival in a Box project to Dr Mcara's work on the memory boxes and other 'heirloom' works created by surrealist artists Dorothea Tanning (1910-2012), Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010), and Leonora Carrington (1917-2011), each of whom worked into their nineties. Our projects were united by a shared interest in memory boxes, ageing, and in what might loosely be termed the 'practical' applications of surrealism as a form of creative practice. This event was well attended by a mixed audience of academics, curators and the general public. During the workshop we played several rounds of the 'Exquisite Corpse', and created a social 'festival in a box' of found objects and work generated during the day. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/boxes-of-delight-surrealism-at-90/ |
Description | Festival in a Box dementia friendly showcase |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | As part of London Creativity and Wellbeing Week 2016, we organised a community showcase for the 'Bloomsbury Festival in a Box' project. Every year, the 'Festival in a Box' takes the Bloomsbury Festival into the homes of people living alone and with dementia in Bloomsbury and Camden - bringing a 'cultural meals on wheels' to some of Bloomsbury's longest established residents. This event invited both local residents and practitioners to join us to find out more about the project and enjoy some special Festival in a Box performances. People with dementia and their carers were also welcomed. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.creativityandwellbeing.org.uk/week/events/festival-box-dementia-friendly-showcase |
Description | Festival in a Box: a pop-up exhibition of stories |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Festival in a Box: a pop-up exhibition of stories, was a one day exhibition and workshop as part of Luminate: Scotland's creative ageing festival. The event brought together a mixed audience of members of the public, carers charity and arts and health workers in Scotland for a pop-up exhibition and workshop exploring how creative approaches to storytelling and arts engagement are helping people live longer, happier lives. The event continued the legacy of the Bloomsbury Festival in a Box project, allowing people from outside London to interact with and add to the Festival in a Box archives. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.luminatescotland.org/events/festival-box-pop-exhibition-stories |
Description | Knowledge Share Day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A public knowledge share day was held at the University of London on May 1st 2014 to mark the project conclusion. The day brought together leading figures in the field of dementia and the arts, including: Veronica Franklin Gould, Founder and Chief Executive of the charity Arts 4 Dementia; Professor Justine Schneider, Professor of Mental Health & Social Care, University of Nottingham, Dr Helen Chatterjee (University College London), principal investigator on the AHRC-Funded Heritage in Hospitals project, and representatives from Dulwich Picture Gallery's 'Good Times: art for older people' programme. The day was attended by 50 delegates, and key presentations from the event were recorded and will be disseminated as podcasts. The event was also live-tweeted via the hashtag #FIAB2014. Following the talk, the PI was invited to participate in an Everyday Creativity, Everyday Resilience seminar at the University of Newcastle in July 2014, as part of the Creative Resilience programme funded by the AHRC Connected Communities programme. The PI was also invited to invited to run a 'festival in a box' outreach workshop as part of the Luminate Festival of Creative Ageing at the University of Edinburgh in October 2014. All talks from the knowledge share day have been made available as podcasts via the School of Advanced Study and Festival in a Box project websites. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://www.sas.ac.uk/support-research/events/videos-and-podcasts/search?keys=knowledge+share+day&tid... |