Description of impact
Hidden Corners is a four-week long musical residency led by Pontio Arts Centre, which has been held annually in care homes in Bangor since 2012. The project resonates with Pontio’s Artistic Mission Statement of creating artistic programmes of the highest quality, that are both innovative and ambitious, and that resonate with the local community (Pontio, 2012). In 2012, a pilot residency was trialled with the community musician Manon Llwyd in one care home in Bangor, and following its success, the residency was further developed in October 2013 to include local school pupils. The aim of the evolved project was to give students the opportunity to work with the musician in residency to build a relationship with the residents, thus developing their understanding of the elderly and people with dementia. It was also a priority to give the students the opportunity to gain new musical experiences, thus developing useful musical skills for the future. The vision of the musician in residence was to use music in a variety of different and experimental ways, and to take music into every corner of the care home. Students would have the freedom to play a variety of instruments, combining the traditional, classical and the experimental, e.g. create ‘skiffle’ instruments out of equipment found in the home. As well as ‘traditional’ performances in the main sitting rooms of the homes, where students would have the opportunity to sit and co-create music with the residents, performance locations would be varied regularly, and students would perform in locations that were very unfamiliar to them, such as along the corridors and outside residents’ individual rooms.For the students to gain a variety of experiences, two locations were chosen for the residency: a local authority owned care home and a private nursing home. The project was offered to year 12 music students at Ysgol Tryfan, and sixteen students expressed an interest to participate in the project. They were divided into four groups, and it was organised for each group to visit both homes once a week during the residency. A preliminary workshop was organised for the students with the Dementia Services Development Centre at Bangor University before the residency, to enable the students to interact more effectively with residents that may have dementia.
Research questions
An evaluation was conducted to measure the impact of the project on the student participants, and the project was used as a case study to investigate:
1) The impact a short-term musical residency for young people in care homes for the elderly may have on:
a) The musical development of students,
b) Students’ opinions and treatment of the elderly,
c) Their awareness and understanding of dementia.
2) The important aspects that should be considered to ensure the success of musical residencies for young people in care homes for the elderly in the future.
Impact Summary for the General Public
Invited talks & presentations on Hidden Corners projects: North Wales Dementia Network meeting, October 2016. 'Dementia Dan Sylw', Pontio, April 2016. Age Cymru Forums (x3), Gwynedd, North Wales, June 2015. ‘Finding Cadenzas in Hidden Corners’, Living Well with dementia through the arts conference, Dementia Services Development Centre Wales, Bangor, April 2015. ‘Hidden Corners: Musical Residencies in Care Homes’, RESEC (Research in Specialist and Elderly Care) conference, Bangor, March 2015.Description of the underpinning research
See attached document| Impact status | Ongoing |
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