Opportunity
Image shown: Age & Opportunity Artist in Residence in a Care Setting: John Conway
Age & Opportunity is seeking tenders from suitably qualified individuals or organisations to conduct a piece of research in the context of their Artist in Residence in a Care Setting initiative.
Age & Opportunity is the national organisation that provides a range of opportunities for older people who want to get more involved in arts and culture, sport and physical activity, civic engagement and personal development.
Background
Age & Opportunity has been awarded funding by Creative Ireland (with support from the Arts Council and the HSE) to continue its work in increasing access to high quality arts experiences for those living in and attending care settings (care homes, community hospitals and day care centres). This follows on from their fourth Artist in Residence in a Care Setting initiative, comprising of six arts residencies in care settings around Ireland during 2019.
This new Artist in Residence in a Care Setting initiative is proposed at a time when many older people in care settings around Ireland are emerging out of a severely traumatising lockdown period, while others are suffering the loss of day services which have had to be suspended. Perhaps now more than ever, residents of care settings around Ireland need access to the restorative and imaginative capacity of the arts and creativity. After such a long period of cocooning, residents also need a reconnection to their outside community and the outside community to them. However, as Ireland continues to suffer the impact and restrictions of Covid-19, arts interventions in care settings need also to be careful, rigorous and safe.
This initiative responds to the need for increased innovation and more diverse practices in relation to the arts in care, as Ireland continues to negotiate the restrictions of Covid-19. On a wider scale, the initiative also addresses the need for greater expertise, training, capacity and sustainability in relation to the arts in care settings around Ireland.
Tender Requirements
There will be two broad phases to this work, a Research Phase (year 1) and an Evaluation Phase (year 2). This tender refers to the Research Phase only. The residencies will be informed by knowledge generated through the Research Phase.
The research and information gathering phase is designed to explore principally:
- The current capacity of care settings to interact with the arts, as well as innovative new ways to create safe arts interventions as we continue to grapple with Covid-19
- How to embed the arts in the culture of care settings more generally.
Deadline
Closing date for receipt of tender: Friday 21 August 2020
Details of the tender can be downloaded here:
https://www.artsandhealth.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/AO-Artist-in-Residence-in-a-Care-Setting-Research-Tender-2020-PDF-6.pdf
