As part of the Older Person's project we are developing a series of intergenerational programmes with the aim of building communities, improving communication between younger and older people and helping to reduce the feelings of isolation and disengagement that is often experienced by older people. These projects may include dance and theatre, film and visual arts.
Tall Ships Regatta Flags -
Falmouth
A series of flags were designed jointly by students from Falmouth School and attendees of the local day care centre, which were hung throughout the Falmouth Town Centre promoting Falmouth and the Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta.
This project was a partnership between Arts for Health Cornwall, Falmouth Town Council and the Tall Ships Association and funded from Arts Council England. It was aimed at using creativity to unite the youth with their elders in a common purpose and help to create happier, stronger communities in which the older people stay more engaged and active, enabling them to lead fulfilling, happier and healthier lives.
This project also sought in particular to actively engage the local community in promoting and participating in the Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta, whichtook place in
Falmouth 10th - 13th
September 2008.
Falmouth School and Falmouth Age Concern Day Care Centre are located over looking the docks where the Tall Ships were berthed throughout the regatta and is an area of Falmouth that has a long maritime history.
Falmouth Day Care Centre is a well used meeting place and support centre for the more elderly members of the community, many of whom had strong connections with and memories of the sea; hence the Tall Ships seemed an ideal backdrop for this project.
Under the leadership of artist Tony Minnion, the students and the older people attending the day care centre chatted about the Tall Ships and maritime memories, using props from the Maritime Museum. The thoughts and memories evoked were then transposed into the flag designs using drawing, stencils and printmaking techniques. The students later digitised the images and prepared them for printing.
When the flags had been reproduced, The Towns Major, Mike Varney, invited the students and older people to a reception on the Tall Ships during the Regatta where he formally thanked all the particpants for the flags which were hanging throughout the town, contributing to the overall success of the Regatta.
Lucy Downing, Day Care Centre Manager commented ‘The centre benefited greatly from the interaction with the students, and being involved with the preparation of the flags. Often the older generation are not able to participate in events like this due to mobility or lack of transport so it was lovely to bring the event to them in a relaxed informal setting’.
Mark Williams, Town Clerk, said ‘It would have been easy to go out and buy some flags to decorate the town centre but giving the community the opportu
nity to work together to design the flags, meant so much more and clearly demonstrates how we value and respect the people of Falmouth; after all the Tall Ships Regatta isn’t just for tourists. We are really proud to have been involved in this project and we plan to use the flags on many occasions'.
Lisa Pearn, Arts teacher at
Falmouth
School
commented ‘The finished art work is dynamic and has given the students a chance to be a part of the community in which they live. Everyone who took part enjoyed different aspects and they have taken away some brilliant memories and have created some vibrant designs’.
The students reflected in one of the workshops that ‘It
is interesting that we feel that everyone is scared of us, particularly if we are in a group, but we’re not scary people and we were really quite nervous about meeting them. I am glad I did it though as I overcame this. As the week progressed we felt that the elderly gained confidence with us, and came out of themselves….it feels good to have done something and given back to the community.
We are ecstatic that us students from
Falmouth
School
were able to take part in Tall Ships 2008! We can’t wait to see our flags we made hanging in the Market and Church Streets!’
Flushing Art Week
This is a week long programme of art related activities that are all aimed primarily at the residents of Flushing, supporting participation for all age groups and abilities.
The purpose of this annual event is t
o support and build the community within the Village and t
o build confidence, provide support and opportunities for local artists to exhibit their work.
It runs during the Whitsun week each May.
From the very beginnings of Flushing Art Week in 2006, it has been primarily a community project, with the activity coming from the local residents and supporting local businesses.
The festival consists of a community gallery, where local artists, professional, amateur and aspiring exhibit in a variety of locations throughout the village, including the Village Club, Chapel, church, pubs, restaurants, residents windows and many outside spaces. Included in this gallery is a photographic competition and postcard art (
where each household in the village puts a piece of their art; from painting ,drawing ,poetry, photography etc onto a postcard and includes it in the gallery). This allows everybody to be part of the gallery and an exhibiting artist.
The opening event is always fully participatory, which has included making a giant sundial out of recycled waste, recreating famous old masters from scrap and being human scarecrows.
Various workshops run throughout the week for adults and children alike, with evening musical entertainment being provided by the pubs in the form of film, dancing and comedy nights.
The week usually attracts a small amount of sponsorship from local businesses, any profits are ploughed straight back into the village community projects.
It is clear from the enthusiasm, participation and feedback from the residents that the festival achieves its aims of building community cohesion and providing support for local people to exhibit their work. A weekly art class and a monthly film club have also developed in Flushing as a direct result of the Art Week.