Participants
The project involved residents of all ages in care home settings across six locations in County Sligo, and was designed to be inclusive of people with dementia. On occasion additional participants included children, other community or family members, and care staff from diverse backgrounds in Sligo. The collaborative process welcomed a wide age range and levels of experience, centring the values of shared lived experience, creating through process and play, and exchange.
Aims
Rooted in an ethics of care and the collaborative process of O’Kane and Canavan, the project brought together participants with dementia and care needs to explore storytelling through visual art, memory, and co-creation.
The project aimed to create an engaging and co-creative environment where participants could share, experience, and reflect on generational knowledge through visual art, storytelling, and creative expression. The artists also sought to investigate how an ethics of care might be perceived in action within a collaborative creative process, and how such collaboration shapes artistic outcomes and participant experience.
Methods
The project employed an action research framework rooted in public engagement, hospitality, and co-creation. Through a year-long engagement and series of workshops, story-sharing, and hands-on making, participants contributed to a collective investigation into building and sharing community through a creative process. The workshops held story and conversation exchange at their core; artists invited residents to work with creative processes and memory objects, while also reflecting on place, nature, heritage, and care. Being responsive to residents and placing stewardship of space at the centre of developing the workshops with residents were intrinsic to the project methodology.
Engagement methods responded to these exchanges, producing both individual expressions, collaborative works, and co-created objects that were used to inform prototype creative toolkits for each of the care homes.
Prototype Sharing and Refining
Ranging from adapted tools to modular art kits and mobile storytelling, the prototypes and resources were regularly shared with residents, care staff, and activity co-ordinators during workshops. These were not static outputs but dynamic tools shaped by feedback and real-time use. This ongoing testing enabled the artists to adapt materials to meet the evolving physical and cognitive needs of participants, ensuring accessibility and emotional resonance.
Each prototype served as both a creative stimulus and a site of dialogue, opening space for participants to express preferences, identify challenges, and guide refinements. For example, materials were modified to be lighter or more tactile, visual prompts were reimagined to better support memory recall, and shared story formats were revised to be more inclusive of diverse communication abilities.
This process of co-design and iterative adjustment formed a core part of the project’s ethics of care, emphasizing responsiveness and deep listening. In this way, the prototypes became embedded within the evolving relationships and trust between artists, residents, and staff, contributing to a sense of co-ownership and empowerment in the creative process.
Staff Skill Share/Networking Day
To consolidate the learning from the workshops and strengthen the long-term impact of the project, the artists and The Model hosted a dedicated Staff Skill Share and Networking Day at The Model in Sligo. This event brought together activity co-ordinators, creative facilitators, and other staff from all six participating care homes. The aim was to create a reflective and generative space for care professionals to share knowledge, build connections, and explore how creative practices could be sustained and integrated into everyday care work.
The day featured hands-on demonstrations of techniques developed during the project, alongside presentations on project findings, toolkits, and ethical frameworks. Staff were invited to share their own experiences, insights, and adaptations from the workshops, creating a peer-led exchange of best practices. Conversations addressed topics such as supporting non-verbal expression, creating welcoming creative spaces in care environments, and building intergenerational connections through art.
This gathering not only fostered professional development but also validated the essential and often under-recognized creative work done by care home staff. The network formed during this event will continue to support future collaborations and resource sharing, strengthening the legacy of the School of Generational Storytelling across the Sligo care home community and beyond.
Artistic Outputs
Six toolkits were created for the care homes, containing carefully designed objects and creative materials tailored to each care home’s setting and location in Sligo, taking into consideration the needs of the space, the residents, the activity co-ordinators, and local culture.
The Model hosted an exhibition from March – May 2025, inviting visitors to experience some of the residents’ artwork and explore the toolkits. The installation consisted of the final six toolkits, in addition to one archival and one library kit, which now form part of The Model’s collection. The library kit is for the public and care homes to access and has representation from each care home in it. The archival kit is a full archive of what a toolkit contains, research and inspiration materials, and includes art pieces made during the workshops and archival material for further exhibitions.
The Model also exhibited participant-generated artworks, texts, and artifacts, alongside documentation of the collaborative process, making the evolution of the project itself part of the artistic outcome. The exhibition space functioned as a living archive and a reflective environment for continued engagement.
Evaluation Methodology
Evaluation included artist planning and reflection journals, participant feedback and photographic documentation. Reflection and research were ongoing elements of the process, and shared between the artists and The Model, a key stakeholder in the project.
Evaluation Outcomes
Care staff noted that the toolkits and techniques learned in the workshops gave them additional tools to communicate stories and experiences often left unspoken. For the artists, the project reinforced the power of interdisciplinary and cooperative methods to produce meaning beyond individual authorship. The process revealed how a collaborative ethics of care could manifest through attentiveness, flexibility, and mutual respect. Challenges included managing the diverse range of needs within sessions, which the artists addressed by creating flexible structures responsive to participants’ input.
Documentation and Dissemination
The project was documented through photographs, sketches, writing, and audio recordings. Outputs have been shared via The Model’s digital media platforms, an article in The Sligo Champion, and a forthcoming article in the the Visual Artists’ News Sheet.
The artists also developed a reflective workshop and presentation that shared insights at a professional networking event for the activity co-ordinators from each participating care home, to extend the conversation within the arts and health community.
Partners
Participating care homes
Bailey’s Care Home, Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo
Mowlam Nursing Home, Sligo Town
Nazareth House, Sligo Town
Summerville Care Home, Strandhill, Co. Sligo
St. John’s Care Home, Sligo Town
Sonas Ard na Greine Nursing Home, Enniscrone, Co. Sligo
