Impact Arts’
Craft
Café programme provides people aged 60+ with the opportunity to access an arts
workshop and support from an artist in residence. The workshop is a place where
they can learn new skills, renew social networks and reconnect with their
communities. Around 80% of older people who take part report feeling less isolated and lonely.
Programme Manager for Craft Café Natalie McFadyen White was asked to give evidence at the Scottish Parliament as part of their inquiry into age and social isolation. The Convenor, Margaret McCulloch MSP, asked a panel of industry experts from the third sector and health and social work services what they have found to be the impact of social isolation and loneliness among older people.
You can read the transcript and Natalie’s contribution to the inquiry on the Scottish Governments Website.
“We have found that we connect and interact with older people through our work with social housing partners. That work has been a vital link for us. The social housing partners go to people who feel isolated in their home and connect them with our Craft Café service, which is provided in sheltered housing and care home space. We bring the community in, so it is about having a space in the care home that people from outside the care home can access, bringing people together and breaking down isolation in that way. Of course, people can be isolated in a care home as well as in their own home.” Natalie McFadyen White