A four-year research arts project has recommended empowering care home staff to provide regular creative activities to benefit residents.

The Dare to Imagine project, a partnership between Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), care home provider Excelcare, arts charity Magic Me and four leading arts organisations ran from October 2019 until March 2023 across four Excelcare residential homes in Essex.

Sadie Munro, director of sales, marketing & wellbeing at Excelcare said: “This four-year partnership was part of a mission to engage residents with different art forms and encourage expression through music, movement, and other creative outlets. Despite being interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the partnership was a huge success and everyone who was involved said how enjoyable the process had been, from the initial workshops all the way through the creation of the final projects.”

Each of the homes, which offer residential, dementia, respite and end-of-life care, was matched with an arts organisation that then worked with them over the duration of the project. The project aimed to build relationships between artists, residents and staff through participation in creative arts and to increase the understanding and potential of embedding creativity in care homes.

The arts companies, New Adventures, Fevered Sleep, curious directive and Gecko introduced residents and staff to activities ranging from dance and creating films inspired by stories told by residents, to weaving, soundscapes and 3D printing.

The report found arts activities were powerful in fostering engagement and meaningful moments with residents. Care home staff were proud of their involvement and artists realised the importance of their practice, particularly in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which hit shortly after the research project began.

The research report, entitled Dare to Imagine: Artists and care home staff working together to embed creativity in care homes, can be read here.