June 2025
If I could go anywhere...
We’ve recently put together a booklet of poems written by members of our monthly Creative Space Art group.
During these art sessions, participants improvised with light, acetate, landscape and projections and talked about places they’ve been and places they would like to go.
The poems in this booklet emerged from those conversations...
If I could go anywhere I’d go back to Germany to see my grandparents, Where rivers stretch from the country to the town, I used to ice skate on the rivers, surrounded by trees, I can taste the fish, always fresh, my granny’s cooking, I would feel warm and loved, full of energy, searching for adventure.
Thank you to MC Wonderful for this beautiful poem.
You can download a PDF of the booklet here!
May 2025
Dementia Action Week: Monday 19 May - Saturday 24 May 2025
A wonderful range of cultural, wellness and community events will be taking place in May to tie in with Dementia Action Week, which runs from Monday 19th May – Saturday 24th May.
For a full list of events, please see the flyer here!
Do come and say hello to us at the Dementia Information Fair taking place in the Small Hall, Kensington Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX on Friday 23rd May, 1.30pm – 4.30pm. We look forward to seeing you there!
For further information, event booking and enquiries, please contact Home Instead Westminster on 020 3701 2862, or email: [email protected]
November 2024
Resonate Arts publish article in the Journal of Dementia Care!
Our very own Shelley Hastings, Project Manager, writer and general miracle worker has written an article about the work we do for the Journal of Dementia Care's special arts edition.
In the article, Creative Space: enabling empowerment and joy, Shelley describes Resonate Arts’ Creative Spaces — inclusive social sessions where people living with dementia and their carers feel welcome and safe to participate in a wide range of arts activities including print-making, film making, animation, clowning, physical theatre, improvisation, yoga, storytelling, poetry, movement therapy and performance art.
Read it here!
You can find out more about the journal and download the full arts edition for free here: https://journalofdementiacare.co.uk
Resonate Arts publish article in the Journal of Dementia Care!
Our very own Shelley Hastings, Project Manager, writer and general miracle worker has written an article about the work we do for the Journal of Dementia Care's special arts edition.
In the article, Creative Space: enabling empowerment and joy, Shelley describes Resonate Arts’ Creative Spaces — inclusive social sessions where people living with dementia and their carers feel welcome and safe to participate in a wide range of arts activities including print-making, film making, animation, clowning, physical theatre, improvisation, yoga, storytelling, poetry, movement therapy and performance art.
Read it here!
You can find out more about the journal and download the full arts edition for free here: https://journalofdementiacare.co.uk
November 2023
We are partnering with the Mayor of London's Culture Team to deliver the Dementia Friendly Venues Charter!
We are very pleased to announce we have started working with the Mayor of London’s Culture Team to deliver the Dementia Friendly Venues Charter! The Mayor of London has launched the world’s first Dementia Friendly Venues Charter for cultural public spaces in a drive to ensure that every Londoner with dementia and their carers have a dementia-friendly cultural venue on their doorstep. The Charter has been devised in collaboration with Alzheimer’s Society and the Museum of London. As part of this work, we are running a pilot assessment of cultural venues that have been accredited as being dementia-friendly. Resonate Arts participants are working with artist and facilitator Seiwa Cunningham to develop Mystery Shopper roles. They will visit and assess how accessible and welcoming the venue is before sharing their experiences and feedback to help venues with improving their offer for people living with dementia. We hope to share some results in 2024!
Find out more
August 2023
Reminiscence and the Arts Training Day
Monday 11th September 2023
Arrive 9:45am for 10am start and finishing at 4:30pm
The European Reminiscence Network are running a Training Day for people interested in Reminiscence and the Arts and want to find out more about the Remembering Yesterday Caring Today project.
This experiential training day will use practical activities, identify the main elements of the Remembering Yesterday Caring Today project and share evidence of the impact of this work on families living with dementia.
Together we will share memories and then explore these through drawing, enactment, objects and music. We will also hear from a family carer who has been part of a Remembering Yesterday Caring Today project who will share their experiences.
Remembering Yesterday Caring Today session
We will have time to think about how we facilitate and support the range of responses to reminiscence and the arts by people living with dementia and their families.
Attendees will have an opportunity to further develop their knowledge and skills by joining the Remembering Yesterday Caring Today project as volunteers supporting people living with dementia, their carers, family and friends. The project is run in partnership with Resonate Arts and will take place at Barrow Hill Village Club from 18th September for 10 weeks.
Venue: Barrow Hill Village Club, 5 Allitsen Rd, London NW8 7BD
Tea, coffee and a light sandwich lunch are provided. Please let us know of any specific dietary requirements before 1st September.
Cost: £80
PLACES ARE LIMITED - To book your place or to find out more, please contact Katie at Resonate Arts:
Tel: 0300 030 7212 Email: [email protected]
More info: www.rememberingyesterdaycaringtoday.com
Download the flyer here
June 2023
It was brilliant to meet lots of people at the One Westminster Volunteers’ Fair on 15th June. We were there to recruit more Creative Befrienders to support our participants with fun arts activities at home and cultural trips out in the community. This month, our Creative Befriender Vivien has been supporting her befriendee Maria to experiment with acrylic paint and collage during their weekly sessions together. And the result? This beautiful artwork painted by Maria using sponge head brushes.
As well as art, we would also like to share a lovely poem written by Evelyn who took part in the recent Cognitive Stimulation Therapy programme run with our partner, the V&A:
Resonate Arts...
No more seeing this group, no more meetings with no more new faces to meet
As now the course has finished and it feels bittersweet
But more neurons have popped up from somewhere?
But how they got there; I would like to share...
Zoe, Lucy, Tara, Faunsia, Laura and not forgetting Katie
All played a part in this journey as this is my testimony
The trips around the V&A were more than stimulating
They cleared a part of my brain, new pathways they were creating!!
From making jewellery boxes to looking at ceramics
All helped my brain and all the boxes it ticks!
I feel like my brain has got out of the muddy waters that it was stuck in,
So all those negative thoughts I USED to have are now in the bin!
My life has changed and I now feel like I belong,
With no more feeling like I’m doing a jigsaw puzzle underwater with blindfolds and goggles on
This is a group which help me with feeling so smart
And their name is the amazing ’Resonate Arts’
Looking back at what I have gained from this course,
Is the ability to look back on my life with gratitude and no remorse...
It’s good to know I’m not the only one who has this issue with my mind
And that it is easy to get the help you need if you can find...
Finding the help through the doctors , medical professionals or the NHS
Who without their aid I wouldn’t be here: so God bless
Amen
A huge thank you to Maria, Vivien and Evelyn for their wonderful creations!
January 2023
Happy New Year! We hope you had a restful time during the festive season and we are really looking forward to seeing you soon at our sessions.
As we enter the new year, we’d like to take this opportunity to tell you more about our wonderful organisation and how you might be able to help us do more creative things with you.
Resonate Arts is a charity and as such is a non-profit making organisation. Our main focus is to work with people living with a dementia who live in Westminster or Kensington & Chelsea. We currently have 238 people registered with us, from a range of communities and backgrounds, who are interested in taking part in an arts activity.
As a small team of three staff we are very busy but we absolutely love the work we do with you and have lots of big ideas and ambition to do more, to grow the charity and what we can offer you.
The programme we offer is made possible through the support of various funders and donors; our main funder over the years has been the NHS. Other more recent funders include the Postcode Society Trust, London Community Foundation, The Gilbert Trust and The European Reminiscence Network.
Support us!
The easiest way you can donate is through our Kindlink web page. Please feel free to share with friends and family!
If you’re a regular online shopper, you can also raise money for us via easyfundraising. They are partnered with over 7000 retailers who will donate to us every time you shop with them, at no extra cost to you! Set up a free account, choose Westminster Arts as your cause and go through the easyfundraising.org.uk website each time you want to make a purchase.
Alternatively, you can get creative and organise an activity to raise money. You could: do a sponsored walk, organise a cake sale or a raffle, create some greetings cards to sell, knit something beautiful to raise money… the list is endless, as is your creativity! We are always here to talk through any ideas you have – so please do get in touch.
November 2022
Trustee Vacancies
Resonate Arts is seeking to appoint individuals to the Board of Trustees, to support and deliver the strategic plan and ensure that the charity delivers a world class service to its beneficiaries, staff and volunteers. The position of Company Secretary is currently vacant; we are keen to find a new Treasurer in the near future and create a Vice-Chair position too.
Applicants must demonstrate enthusiasm and be sympathetic to the charity’s ethos, using the arts to improve the wellbeing of people with dementia. We are looking for individuals who are keen to support the charity with their skills, knowledge and relevant contacts, including:
● Experience in reaching diverse communities and addressing inequalities
● Experience in developing business strategy
● Experience in working in or alongside dementia services
● Experience in charitable finance, financial management and fundraising are particularly welcomed
● Former service user experience (family carers of people living with dementia)
An understanding of charity boards, policy frameworks and governance is an advantage, as is understanding of arts, health and social care networks in Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea.
Click HERE to find out more.
National Befriending Week
The first week of November is National Befriending Week, a chance to celebrate the huge impact a befriender can have on the wellbeing of someone who is lonely or isolated. We would like to say a big thank you to all our Creative Befrienders for the difference they make to the lives of people living with dementia in Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea.
We believe engagement in arts and culture has positive, long-lasting effects on health, wellbeing and quality of life. With this in mind, our Creative Befriending programme has been designed with a unique arts focus, to offer social interaction and creative stimulation for people living with dementia, giving them the opportunity to engage in regular arts activities at home or in the local community. We recruit volunteers with an interest/ passion/ background in the arts and match them with a person living with dementia who has similar creative interests. We support them both to build a strong social connection with each other and help them to achieve their goals.
"Seeing the effects of music, singing and one to one conversation on the faces of the people we are helping, is a wonderful experience, both truly enjoyable and deeply rewarding." (Creative Befriender)
Please get in touch with us if you think you might like to become a Creative Befriender. We are currently recruiting volunteers and can give you more information and talk to you about what the role involves.
Contact us at [email protected], or call us on 0300 030 7212.
August 2022
We have been busy planning our autumn programme of activities and our end of summer celebration and can't wait to see you soon at some of these events!
September highlights include our end of summer celebratory party (8th), the return of our Singing with Friends choir with a fun musical sharing event (20th), plus our next Music for the Moment concert in partnership with the Royal Academy of Music (30th). In October we'll be celebrating Silver Sunday at The Wallace Collection with Wigmore Hall (2nd) and embarking on a new series of interactive music-making sessions at Wigmore Hall with professional musicians and young artists from the Royal Academy of Music (27th). Please get in touch to find out more and explore the many creative and musical delights we have on offer this autumn.
April 2022 - Recruiting
We are seeking a full-time Projects Manager to join our small growing charity. The postholder will work from home, travelling within zones 1-2 within the City of Westminster and Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
Salary £28K. Fixed term appointment for 6 months with scope for extension to 12 months funding permitting
Get in touch for a full job description and person specification.
April 2022 - In The Joy Fantastic!
We are delighted to announce that Resonate Arts has been awarded £9,876 from the Arts Council’s Let’s Create Jubilee Fund by the London Community Foundation. This fund is ensuring that creativity plays an important role in local community celebrations for Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The Let’s Create Jubilee Fund is enabling thousands of people from communities across England to have the opportunity to take part in exciting creative events – all in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee. From puppetry and story creation, through to making crowns, carnival and art trails, there will be a huge range of exciting activities for people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved in.
Here at Resonate Arts we are thrilled to have this unique chance to get creative together again. The last two years have brought some horrible challenges for older people and this award gives us the long-awaited prospect of sparking some real joy for people living with dementia and their families.
We are especially delighted to be collaborating with our colleagues at the Wallace Collection, our Resonate Arts participants (both existing and new) and many of our local services in our celebratory project - ‘In the Joy Fantastic’
Our project is being led by artist Katie Turnbull. She is an experienced mixed media artist who has worked in a wide range of community settings with all age ranges, and she has exhibited both in the UK and internationally.
This month we will be reaching out to community groups to arrange 6 workshops in different venues which will start at the end of April/ beginning of May.
The workshops will explore the nature of joy and celebration – reflecting on the unique and collective qualities of this life enhancing feeling. No previous experience is needed to come along and get involved as much or as little as you want – Katie will enable you to find your own special creative spark, and you can come to more that one workshop if you wish.
Everyone will have the opportunity to contribute to the creation of an art piece that celebrates the importance of joy in life. The work will be displayed at a celebratory event to be held at the Wallace Collection in early June, where there will be more workshops and a party mood. The art-work will then be exhibited in local venues and care homes to raise awareness of the importance of supporting people to live well and, wherever possible, joyfully.
We will post confirmation of the workshop dates soon in our events listings.
If you would like Katie to provide you with more details about the workshop or the ‘In the Joy Fantastic Celebratory Event’ at the Wallace Collection please:
Ring us on: 0300 030 7212 or e-mail us at: [email protected]
We are partnering with the Mayor of London's Culture Team to deliver the Dementia Friendly Venues Charter!
We are very pleased to announce we have started working with the Mayor of London’s Culture Team to deliver the Dementia Friendly Venues Charter! The Mayor of London has launched the world’s first Dementia Friendly Venues Charter for cultural public spaces in a drive to ensure that every Londoner with dementia and their carers have a dementia-friendly cultural venue on their doorstep. The Charter has been devised in collaboration with Alzheimer’s Society and the Museum of London. As part of this work, we are running a pilot assessment of cultural venues that have been accredited as being dementia-friendly. Resonate Arts participants are working with artist and facilitator Seiwa Cunningham to develop Mystery Shopper roles. They will visit and assess how accessible and welcoming the venue is before sharing their experiences and feedback to help venues with improving their offer for people living with dementia. We hope to share some results in 2024!
Find out more
August 2023
Reminiscence and the Arts Training Day
Monday 11th September 2023
Arrive 9:45am for 10am start and finishing at 4:30pm
The European Reminiscence Network are running a Training Day for people interested in Reminiscence and the Arts and want to find out more about the Remembering Yesterday Caring Today project.
This experiential training day will use practical activities, identify the main elements of the Remembering Yesterday Caring Today project and share evidence of the impact of this work on families living with dementia.
Together we will share memories and then explore these through drawing, enactment, objects and music. We will also hear from a family carer who has been part of a Remembering Yesterday Caring Today project who will share their experiences.
Remembering Yesterday Caring Today session
We will have time to think about how we facilitate and support the range of responses to reminiscence and the arts by people living with dementia and their families.
Attendees will have an opportunity to further develop their knowledge and skills by joining the Remembering Yesterday Caring Today project as volunteers supporting people living with dementia, their carers, family and friends. The project is run in partnership with Resonate Arts and will take place at Barrow Hill Village Club from 18th September for 10 weeks.
Venue: Barrow Hill Village Club, 5 Allitsen Rd, London NW8 7BD
Tea, coffee and a light sandwich lunch are provided. Please let us know of any specific dietary requirements before 1st September.
Cost: £80
PLACES ARE LIMITED - To book your place or to find out more, please contact Katie at Resonate Arts:
Tel: 0300 030 7212 Email: [email protected]
More info: www.rememberingyesterdaycaringtoday.com
Download the flyer here
June 2023
It was brilliant to meet lots of people at the One Westminster Volunteers’ Fair on 15th June. We were there to recruit more Creative Befrienders to support our participants with fun arts activities at home and cultural trips out in the community. This month, our Creative Befriender Vivien has been supporting her befriendee Maria to experiment with acrylic paint and collage during their weekly sessions together. And the result? This beautiful artwork painted by Maria using sponge head brushes.
As well as art, we would also like to share a lovely poem written by Evelyn who took part in the recent Cognitive Stimulation Therapy programme run with our partner, the V&A:
Resonate Arts...
No more seeing this group, no more meetings with no more new faces to meet
As now the course has finished and it feels bittersweet
But more neurons have popped up from somewhere?
But how they got there; I would like to share...
Zoe, Lucy, Tara, Faunsia, Laura and not forgetting Katie
All played a part in this journey as this is my testimony
The trips around the V&A were more than stimulating
They cleared a part of my brain, new pathways they were creating!!
From making jewellery boxes to looking at ceramics
All helped my brain and all the boxes it ticks!
I feel like my brain has got out of the muddy waters that it was stuck in,
So all those negative thoughts I USED to have are now in the bin!
My life has changed and I now feel like I belong,
With no more feeling like I’m doing a jigsaw puzzle underwater with blindfolds and goggles on
This is a group which help me with feeling so smart
And their name is the amazing ’Resonate Arts’
Looking back at what I have gained from this course,
Is the ability to look back on my life with gratitude and no remorse...
It’s good to know I’m not the only one who has this issue with my mind
And that it is easy to get the help you need if you can find...
Finding the help through the doctors , medical professionals or the NHS
Who without their aid I wouldn’t be here: so God bless
Amen
A huge thank you to Maria, Vivien and Evelyn for their wonderful creations!
January 2023
Happy New Year! We hope you had a restful time during the festive season and we are really looking forward to seeing you soon at our sessions.
As we enter the new year, we’d like to take this opportunity to tell you more about our wonderful organisation and how you might be able to help us do more creative things with you.
Resonate Arts is a charity and as such is a non-profit making organisation. Our main focus is to work with people living with a dementia who live in Westminster or Kensington & Chelsea. We currently have 238 people registered with us, from a range of communities and backgrounds, who are interested in taking part in an arts activity.
As a small team of three staff we are very busy but we absolutely love the work we do with you and have lots of big ideas and ambition to do more, to grow the charity and what we can offer you.
The programme we offer is made possible through the support of various funders and donors; our main funder over the years has been the NHS. Other more recent funders include the Postcode Society Trust, London Community Foundation, The Gilbert Trust and The European Reminiscence Network.
Support us!
The easiest way you can donate is through our Kindlink web page. Please feel free to share with friends and family!
If you’re a regular online shopper, you can also raise money for us via easyfundraising. They are partnered with over 7000 retailers who will donate to us every time you shop with them, at no extra cost to you! Set up a free account, choose Westminster Arts as your cause and go through the easyfundraising.org.uk website each time you want to make a purchase.
Alternatively, you can get creative and organise an activity to raise money. You could: do a sponsored walk, organise a cake sale or a raffle, create some greetings cards to sell, knit something beautiful to raise money… the list is endless, as is your creativity! We are always here to talk through any ideas you have – so please do get in touch.
November 2022
Trustee Vacancies
Resonate Arts is seeking to appoint individuals to the Board of Trustees, to support and deliver the strategic plan and ensure that the charity delivers a world class service to its beneficiaries, staff and volunteers. The position of Company Secretary is currently vacant; we are keen to find a new Treasurer in the near future and create a Vice-Chair position too.
Applicants must demonstrate enthusiasm and be sympathetic to the charity’s ethos, using the arts to improve the wellbeing of people with dementia. We are looking for individuals who are keen to support the charity with their skills, knowledge and relevant contacts, including:
● Experience in reaching diverse communities and addressing inequalities
● Experience in developing business strategy
● Experience in working in or alongside dementia services
● Experience in charitable finance, financial management and fundraising are particularly welcomed
● Former service user experience (family carers of people living with dementia)
An understanding of charity boards, policy frameworks and governance is an advantage, as is understanding of arts, health and social care networks in Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea.
Click HERE to find out more.
National Befriending Week
The first week of November is National Befriending Week, a chance to celebrate the huge impact a befriender can have on the wellbeing of someone who is lonely or isolated. We would like to say a big thank you to all our Creative Befrienders for the difference they make to the lives of people living with dementia in Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea.
We believe engagement in arts and culture has positive, long-lasting effects on health, wellbeing and quality of life. With this in mind, our Creative Befriending programme has been designed with a unique arts focus, to offer social interaction and creative stimulation for people living with dementia, giving them the opportunity to engage in regular arts activities at home or in the local community. We recruit volunteers with an interest/ passion/ background in the arts and match them with a person living with dementia who has similar creative interests. We support them both to build a strong social connection with each other and help them to achieve their goals.
"Seeing the effects of music, singing and one to one conversation on the faces of the people we are helping, is a wonderful experience, both truly enjoyable and deeply rewarding." (Creative Befriender)
Please get in touch with us if you think you might like to become a Creative Befriender. We are currently recruiting volunteers and can give you more information and talk to you about what the role involves.
Contact us at [email protected], or call us on 0300 030 7212.
August 2022
We have been busy planning our autumn programme of activities and our end of summer celebration and can't wait to see you soon at some of these events!
September highlights include our end of summer celebratory party (8th), the return of our Singing with Friends choir with a fun musical sharing event (20th), plus our next Music for the Moment concert in partnership with the Royal Academy of Music (30th). In October we'll be celebrating Silver Sunday at The Wallace Collection with Wigmore Hall (2nd) and embarking on a new series of interactive music-making sessions at Wigmore Hall with professional musicians and young artists from the Royal Academy of Music (27th). Please get in touch to find out more and explore the many creative and musical delights we have on offer this autumn.
April 2022 - Recruiting
We are seeking a full-time Projects Manager to join our small growing charity. The postholder will work from home, travelling within zones 1-2 within the City of Westminster and Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
Salary £28K. Fixed term appointment for 6 months with scope for extension to 12 months funding permitting
Get in touch for a full job description and person specification.
April 2022 - In The Joy Fantastic!
We are delighted to announce that Resonate Arts has been awarded £9,876 from the Arts Council’s Let’s Create Jubilee Fund by the London Community Foundation. This fund is ensuring that creativity plays an important role in local community celebrations for Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The Let’s Create Jubilee Fund is enabling thousands of people from communities across England to have the opportunity to take part in exciting creative events – all in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee. From puppetry and story creation, through to making crowns, carnival and art trails, there will be a huge range of exciting activities for people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved in.
Here at Resonate Arts we are thrilled to have this unique chance to get creative together again. The last two years have brought some horrible challenges for older people and this award gives us the long-awaited prospect of sparking some real joy for people living with dementia and their families.
We are especially delighted to be collaborating with our colleagues at the Wallace Collection, our Resonate Arts participants (both existing and new) and many of our local services in our celebratory project - ‘In the Joy Fantastic’
Our project is being led by artist Katie Turnbull. She is an experienced mixed media artist who has worked in a wide range of community settings with all age ranges, and she has exhibited both in the UK and internationally.
This month we will be reaching out to community groups to arrange 6 workshops in different venues which will start at the end of April/ beginning of May.
The workshops will explore the nature of joy and celebration – reflecting on the unique and collective qualities of this life enhancing feeling. No previous experience is needed to come along and get involved as much or as little as you want – Katie will enable you to find your own special creative spark, and you can come to more that one workshop if you wish.
Everyone will have the opportunity to contribute to the creation of an art piece that celebrates the importance of joy in life. The work will be displayed at a celebratory event to be held at the Wallace Collection in early June, where there will be more workshops and a party mood. The art-work will then be exhibited in local venues and care homes to raise awareness of the importance of supporting people to live well and, wherever possible, joyfully.
We will post confirmation of the workshop dates soon in our events listings.
If you would like Katie to provide you with more details about the workshop or the ‘In the Joy Fantastic Celebratory Event’ at the Wallace Collection please:
Ring us on: 0300 030 7212 or e-mail us at: [email protected]
