December 2020
In December we completed our 6 week Opera for Thought online project, in partnership with Opera Holland Park. We used singing, movement and craft to explore the wonderful and dramatic music of Eugene Onegin. At the end of the month we enjoyed a festive singing celebration, filled with carols, festive hits and of course christmas jumpers!
In November we held an online Introductory Day for new Creative Befrienders, who we are supporting to connect with isolated individuals across Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea. We also partnered with the Wallace Collection and Wigmore Hall to offer a one-off online session exploring music, art and conversation, which was a great success.
We continue with our weekly choir sessions, meeting a range of wonderful guest musicians from the Royal Academy of Music, and we are joined by RAM Fellow Ashleigh who leads our warm up each week.
September 2020
It has been a busy few months for us at Resonate Arts. We said goodbye to our wonderful Director Kathryn Gilfoy in August, after 11 years leading the charity. We enjoyed a fun filled virtual evening with colleagues and professionals to thank Kath for her many years of contribution to the arts and dementia community.
This Autumn we started the new term of our Singing with Friends choir in partnership with Wigmore Hall, continuing to meet online each week. It is wonderful to be joined by guest musicians from the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) and for six weeks we are also joined by the lovely singer Ben, a fellow with the RAM.
In August we were delighted to invite participants to the Masterpiece Gallery over two days, for socially distanced VIP tours of the ‘Wight Spirit 1968-70’ exhibition, led by practitioner Sam Haynes. We took inspiration from the exhibition in producing our September and October monthly activity letter, Resonate Now.
Our Creative Befrienders (CB's) have been continuing to connect over the phone, by post and occasionally (where safe to do so) in person with their befriendees. We have also offered a number of keep in touch phone calls based on the ‘Art of Conversation’ to those who would like to stay in contact during current restrictions, but aren’t connected with a CB or attending a project.
We have been running our Carers Art project in partnership with the Carer’s Network, exploring art and reminiscence by phone, post and on zoom.
May Blog Post!
This week it is Creativity and Wellbeing Week, 18-24 May 2020 and the festival’s theme is Positive Futures. To celebrate, we wanted to share some of the work that we have been doing since lockdown. The last few weeks have of course been filled with a mixture of emotions including sadness, frustration and boredom. However, whilst acknowledging these ongoing difficult circumstances, we are approaching with positivity the opportunities that lie open to us as we adjust to this ‘new normal’.
We work with people living with dementia, and this community, already vulnerable to becoming very socially isolated are now finding themselves feeling further distanced from friends, family and the outside world. Many in this community have limited access to technology and so for some, a video call is not an option. We cannot currently visit people at home, so we’ve been planning activities and projects that support individuals whilst keeping them safe.
Resonate Arts has always taken pride in its individualised and participant driven response to our community. We have continued to work in this way since lockdown, making phone calls and sending letters and emails to those most at risk of becoming disconnected from our society. We are sharing stories, focusing on the ‘present’ and encouraging creativity wherever we can.
Our wonderful small team of Creative Befrienders have been continuing their relationships, alongside sparking new friendships, and using the power of the arts - singing, writing poetry and sharing jokes to keep spirits lifted. We now have our Resonate Now activity letter which is distributed each month and features different ideas and activities to keep people busy, either on their own or with the support of their carer or relative, and we have enjoyed following up to find out how this has been going and supporting people to try out exercises or sing songs. We've had some lovely feedback, including from Brian who said after doing Julie's exercises, "I'm a couch potato but at least it's stopped me from sprouting!" Like our monthly local events listing that it replaces, it features the work of partner organisations to keep these beacons of community alive in the hearts of our participants.
We have completed our 14 week Cognitive Stimulation Therapy project in partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum and supported by the Gilbert Collection. The weekly workshops, cut short by lockdown, were quickly re-established remotely. Led by artist Zoe Gilmour, participants were able to look forward to receiving a weekly activity pack, with content including resources from V&A curators, and then the follow up phone call. The feedback from the group was overwhelmingly positive and participants were happy to continue weekly explorations of the V&A, even from a distance.
Learning from this and the huge importance of having something to look forward to, we restarted the Music for Thought project with the Royal Academy of Music Fellows who had been involved in the project, who are phoning the participants for conversation and their own private performances. We have offered training sessions with the Fellows and also our Creative Befrienders in working over the telephone. Next, we are hoping to start our Remembering Together reminiscence arts project (which was due to start the week of the lockdown) in the near future.
We have continued connecting with our Singing with Friends choir, usually based at Wigmore Hall, with one to one phone calls and sing-alongs with choir leader Issy. A large portion of the group have internet access so we hope to soon trial a regular group choir online, while still maintaining the one to one calls for those who don't. We have partnered with the Southbank Centre who are piloting a new project ‘Art by Post’ and we are initially supporting 20 individuals to receive monthly packs of poetry and visual art activities and have follow up calls with a Creative Befriender or member of the team. This will be our first new arts partnership under lockdown, whilst continuing to develop our established partnerships, and we are looking forward to having a musician in residence from the Royal Academy of Music in the autumn.
We are still very much part of the local dementia scene, including of course the Covid 19 response, and recently we supported the Dementia Advisor in Westminster in training sessions for link workers who are now encountering people with dementia on the Covid 19 help lines. Our involvement in the bi-borough (Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea) Dementia Action Alliance continues online and through a Whatsapp group and we are very pleased to announce our recent Dementia Friendly Borough status.
We aim to continue connecting with our wonderful community of artists, actors, dancers, poets, musicians and arts and culture enthusiasts as much as is possible. The future remains uncertain, but the arts have always enabled communities to thrive, connect and evolve and Resonate Arts will continue to use the arts as a powerful tool for positive change.
An update from Resonate Arts
We have temporarily suspended all of our community activities and creative befriending home visits in response to the coronavirus. We know this is disappointing for many of our participants, and it is difficult for us too, as we would like to provide as many creative activities for our community as possible.
However, we are doing our best to continue providing arts activities for you all to do at home and we have been busy behind the scenes planning for the weeks ahead. Please go to our Art at Home section
for more details.
If you would like to support our fundraising activities for this new way of working please donate here
March 2020
Recruitment began for a new Remembering Together reminiscence arts project In partnership with the European Reminiscence Network. A group of apprentices were trained by Pam Schweitzer to accompany the families on their reminiscence journey. This project is on now hold due to the coronavirus.
Just before lockdown however we were able to celebrate the work of the family carers project at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The participants saw the fruits of their labours brought together in an informal exhibition - mini mosaics, embroidery and hand-made books. All the participants had a sketch portrait made of themselves by artist Victoria Semjonova.
February 2020
The monthly art group families made bird boxes and explored the theme of spring. The family carers left the room for a talk with the Carers Network whilst the people living with dementia decorated the boxes and made fat balls to tempt the birds into the garden…
The Singing with Friends choir at Wigmore Hall was gearing up for their concert at the end of term which we sadly had to cancel due to coronavirus. However, an installation of a mini theatre with little wooden audience members who, when touched, sang one of the songs specially created for the group by music technologist Gawain Hewitt was displayed in the foyer during Learning Week. Gawain had worked with several of the community groups based at Wigmore to create a room sized installation the previous year!
January 2020
In January we were sad to say goodbye to our lovely Projects Manager Emma who has been with us since 2017. We are looking forward however to the year ahead with lots of projects starting over the spring.
We started our new memory group with the Victoria and Albert Museum, which will run for 14 weeks until April. This is the second year we have run this project, and we’re delighted to be supported by the Gilbert Collection.
In December we completed our 6 week Opera for Thought online project, in partnership with Opera Holland Park. We used singing, movement and craft to explore the wonderful and dramatic music of Eugene Onegin. At the end of the month we enjoyed a festive singing celebration, filled with carols, festive hits and of course christmas jumpers!
In November we held an online Introductory Day for new Creative Befrienders, who we are supporting to connect with isolated individuals across Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea. We also partnered with the Wallace Collection and Wigmore Hall to offer a one-off online session exploring music, art and conversation, which was a great success.
We continue with our weekly choir sessions, meeting a range of wonderful guest musicians from the Royal Academy of Music, and we are joined by RAM Fellow Ashleigh who leads our warm up each week.
September 2020
It has been a busy few months for us at Resonate Arts. We said goodbye to our wonderful Director Kathryn Gilfoy in August, after 11 years leading the charity. We enjoyed a fun filled virtual evening with colleagues and professionals to thank Kath for her many years of contribution to the arts and dementia community.
This Autumn we started the new term of our Singing with Friends choir in partnership with Wigmore Hall, continuing to meet online each week. It is wonderful to be joined by guest musicians from the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) and for six weeks we are also joined by the lovely singer Ben, a fellow with the RAM.
In August we were delighted to invite participants to the Masterpiece Gallery over two days, for socially distanced VIP tours of the ‘Wight Spirit 1968-70’ exhibition, led by practitioner Sam Haynes. We took inspiration from the exhibition in producing our September and October monthly activity letter, Resonate Now.
Our Creative Befrienders (CB's) have been continuing to connect over the phone, by post and occasionally (where safe to do so) in person with their befriendees. We have also offered a number of keep in touch phone calls based on the ‘Art of Conversation’ to those who would like to stay in contact during current restrictions, but aren’t connected with a CB or attending a project.
We have been running our Carers Art project in partnership with the Carer’s Network, exploring art and reminiscence by phone, post and on zoom.
May Blog Post!
This week it is Creativity and Wellbeing Week, 18-24 May 2020 and the festival’s theme is Positive Futures. To celebrate, we wanted to share some of the work that we have been doing since lockdown. The last few weeks have of course been filled with a mixture of emotions including sadness, frustration and boredom. However, whilst acknowledging these ongoing difficult circumstances, we are approaching with positivity the opportunities that lie open to us as we adjust to this ‘new normal’.
We work with people living with dementia, and this community, already vulnerable to becoming very socially isolated are now finding themselves feeling further distanced from friends, family and the outside world. Many in this community have limited access to technology and so for some, a video call is not an option. We cannot currently visit people at home, so we’ve been planning activities and projects that support individuals whilst keeping them safe.
Resonate Arts has always taken pride in its individualised and participant driven response to our community. We have continued to work in this way since lockdown, making phone calls and sending letters and emails to those most at risk of becoming disconnected from our society. We are sharing stories, focusing on the ‘present’ and encouraging creativity wherever we can.
Our wonderful small team of Creative Befrienders have been continuing their relationships, alongside sparking new friendships, and using the power of the arts - singing, writing poetry and sharing jokes to keep spirits lifted. We now have our Resonate Now activity letter which is distributed each month and features different ideas and activities to keep people busy, either on their own or with the support of their carer or relative, and we have enjoyed following up to find out how this has been going and supporting people to try out exercises or sing songs. We've had some lovely feedback, including from Brian who said after doing Julie's exercises, "I'm a couch potato but at least it's stopped me from sprouting!" Like our monthly local events listing that it replaces, it features the work of partner organisations to keep these beacons of community alive in the hearts of our participants.
We have completed our 14 week Cognitive Stimulation Therapy project in partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum and supported by the Gilbert Collection. The weekly workshops, cut short by lockdown, were quickly re-established remotely. Led by artist Zoe Gilmour, participants were able to look forward to receiving a weekly activity pack, with content including resources from V&A curators, and then the follow up phone call. The feedback from the group was overwhelmingly positive and participants were happy to continue weekly explorations of the V&A, even from a distance.
Learning from this and the huge importance of having something to look forward to, we restarted the Music for Thought project with the Royal Academy of Music Fellows who had been involved in the project, who are phoning the participants for conversation and their own private performances. We have offered training sessions with the Fellows and also our Creative Befrienders in working over the telephone. Next, we are hoping to start our Remembering Together reminiscence arts project (which was due to start the week of the lockdown) in the near future.
We have continued connecting with our Singing with Friends choir, usually based at Wigmore Hall, with one to one phone calls and sing-alongs with choir leader Issy. A large portion of the group have internet access so we hope to soon trial a regular group choir online, while still maintaining the one to one calls for those who don't. We have partnered with the Southbank Centre who are piloting a new project ‘Art by Post’ and we are initially supporting 20 individuals to receive monthly packs of poetry and visual art activities and have follow up calls with a Creative Befriender or member of the team. This will be our first new arts partnership under lockdown, whilst continuing to develop our established partnerships, and we are looking forward to having a musician in residence from the Royal Academy of Music in the autumn.
We are still very much part of the local dementia scene, including of course the Covid 19 response, and recently we supported the Dementia Advisor in Westminster in training sessions for link workers who are now encountering people with dementia on the Covid 19 help lines. Our involvement in the bi-borough (Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea) Dementia Action Alliance continues online and through a Whatsapp group and we are very pleased to announce our recent Dementia Friendly Borough status.
We aim to continue connecting with our wonderful community of artists, actors, dancers, poets, musicians and arts and culture enthusiasts as much as is possible. The future remains uncertain, but the arts have always enabled communities to thrive, connect and evolve and Resonate Arts will continue to use the arts as a powerful tool for positive change.
An update from Resonate Arts
We have temporarily suspended all of our community activities and creative befriending home visits in response to the coronavirus. We know this is disappointing for many of our participants, and it is difficult for us too, as we would like to provide as many creative activities for our community as possible.
However, we are doing our best to continue providing arts activities for you all to do at home and we have been busy behind the scenes planning for the weeks ahead. Please go to our Art at Home section
for more details.
If you would like to support our fundraising activities for this new way of working please donate here
March 2020
Recruitment began for a new Remembering Together reminiscence arts project In partnership with the European Reminiscence Network. A group of apprentices were trained by Pam Schweitzer to accompany the families on their reminiscence journey. This project is on now hold due to the coronavirus.
Just before lockdown however we were able to celebrate the work of the family carers project at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The participants saw the fruits of their labours brought together in an informal exhibition - mini mosaics, embroidery and hand-made books. All the participants had a sketch portrait made of themselves by artist Victoria Semjonova.
February 2020
The monthly art group families made bird boxes and explored the theme of spring. The family carers left the room for a talk with the Carers Network whilst the people living with dementia decorated the boxes and made fat balls to tempt the birds into the garden…
The Singing with Friends choir at Wigmore Hall was gearing up for their concert at the end of term which we sadly had to cancel due to coronavirus. However, an installation of a mini theatre with little wooden audience members who, when touched, sang one of the songs specially created for the group by music technologist Gawain Hewitt was displayed in the foyer during Learning Week. Gawain had worked with several of the community groups based at Wigmore to create a room sized installation the previous year!
January 2020
In January we were sad to say goodbye to our lovely Projects Manager Emma who has been with us since 2017. We are looking forward however to the year ahead with lots of projects starting over the spring.
We started our new memory group with the Victoria and Albert Museum, which will run for 14 weeks until April. This is the second year we have run this project, and we’re delighted to be supported by the Gilbert Collection.
