Impact of visual arts programmes for those with special needs
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It is clear from referral routes that initial reasons for encouraging individuals to participate in art programmes are mostly related to health and well being. Equally, as I began my research into the benefits of community art programmes, finding academic papers describing the effects on well-being was not difficult. I could find nothing published, however, that looked at this type of activity from the point of view of art practice in its own right, although a Social Impact Study carried out for Pallant House into their 2015-16 Community Programme said a key positive outcome for participants was the development of creative practice.
The Pallant House programme included (and still does in its current form) regular workshops and drop-in sessions, exhibition visits, talks and presentations, plus ‘Partners in Art’ that matches a participant with a befriending art practitioner so they can explore art activities and visits together. While the impact data indicate very positive results for individuals’ well being, interestingly they are significantly stronger for art practice and learning new skills. The following extract shows the figures:
This is not to say that there is anything wrong with having a focus on well-being; in fact I believe the opposite is true. It’s just that historically it has been more prominent than creativity, and for good reasons.
A key finding of a Department of Health review into arts and health in 2007 stated that ‘arts and health are, and should be firmly recognised as being, integral to health, healthcare provision and healthcare environments’ and that ‘the Department of Health has an important leadership role to play in ……. developing and supporting arts and health’. Disappointingly, the McMaster Review in 2008, commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, made no connection between the arts and health but fortunately, it would seem that ACE noted the views of both government departments when developing its strategies.
Of special interest to me, given my involvement with Arts 4 Dementia, is a paper published in 2013 that looks at the impact of arts interventions on people with mild to moderate dementia and their carers as it relates to social inclusion, carer burden, quality of life and daily living activities. Entitled ‘Viewing and making art together: a multi-session art-gallery-based intervention for people with dementia and their carers’, the study followed 24 participants (12 with dementia) as they progressed through eight, two-hour sessions in an art gallery ((Dulwich Picture Gallery and Nottingham Contemporary were used). Sessions were divided into two sections; one hour of viewing and discussing art followed by one hour of art-making facilitated by a professional artist.
In terms of well-being, carers said doing something together with their partner (other than the usual medical appointment) was welcome and they reported enhanced levels of cognitive engagement for the person with dementia both during the session and once they had returned home. The people with dementia ‘were often surprised that learning about art and making it was enjoyable and worthwhile’ one saying “I didn’t realise I could still learn things”.
I heard almost the same words about learning expressed by a participant with dementia (an ex-art teacher) at the end of one A4D session at Central St Martins and this seems to be a good example of art engagement and creativity enabling people to discover what they can do rather than always reflecting on personal barriers to achievement. A positive result for A4D as it states that empowerment through artistic stimulation is a key goal.
When interviewing Lucy Padley, Public Programme Manager at Pallant House, we talked about the main referral routes to workshops and the diversity of the participants . They make a point of not categorising or labelling people by their condition or, indeed, putting people with different conditions into separate workshops. As the groups all come together and get to know each other, she says this results in a group that feels like "one big community of people and that allows (each of) them to feel like an artist". That said, the majority of referrals come via health and social care routes: key charities that operate in or near Chichester supporting, for example, mental health or learning disability. Also, many are now referred from the relatively new service of Social Prescribing where non-medical staff are connected to GP surgeries and take time to find out about individuals then steer them towards activities that might, for instance, improve their general fitness, combat loneliness or lift mood. But the end result - that the individual participants feel they can drop the label attached to their condition or circumstance and just ‘feel like an artist’ is a powerful plaudit for both the systems of referral and the Pallant House approach to enabling creativity.
Artists at work at a Pallant House Community Workshop (from Pallant House website)
What I’ve witnessed myself when supporting workshops is how people with dementia and their companions (who are often quite stressed when they arrive) begin to chat, to smile, to exchange stories and simultaneously get absorbed in and develop an interest and pride in the work they are producing. Nigel Franklin of A4D sums up his view, saying “who is to say that the value of art is only the product at the end? The value of art is the doing of it, the creative expression, joy, empowerment. That’s why art is so different”. It feels as though the well being benefits are intrinsically knitted into the creative process as - in the words of ACE - people ‘make something that wasn’t there before.’
This view is borne out by Clare Hankinson at Fabrica saying “For us, we’re very process-led rather than outcome-led. The type of artists we work with have in common that our work is person-centred and process-based. Ultimately the work they do is creative …. It’s hard to pull apart the well being and the creative development”
Alex Schady thinks a little differently and states that his desire to run the workshops was not “a benevolent act”. Having seen him lead the facilitation with empathy and care, I’m not sure I wholly believe this but there is no doubt that he has clear ideas about the creative advantages it can bring for his Fine Art students. He sees workshops as opening up students - and himself, a self-confessed "control freak" - to being forced into thinking and creating differently. “Every time you work with others, they do it wrong - and that’s so exciting for an artist! You’re not being allowed to do it the way you wanted because suddenly the workshop has escaped and gone off in another direction and you’re just chasing it”.
However, he’s not only interested in the creative impact on his students, taking the view that if you work to equalise the relationship between facilitator and participant, it makes for a more creative space: “(you’ve got) 20 people in a room looking at abstraction and thinking about it and each one has interpreted it slightly differently”.
A4D Participants and CSM students creating work together, March 2022
Esther Collins from the Towner also believes in the power of working in a group, bringing people together into art practice so that artists work with people to make something new that none of them would have thought of making by themselves. So both the artist facilitator and the group members come up with new ideas and find creativity by being together in that context. She also sees how it can be a genuine development for the artist’s own practice. A reaction to this view might be that this research is supposed to be focussing on people with special needs but, I believe it’s fair to say, that if the artist facilitator is creatively energised by the experience, that sense is likely to be transferred to the group. Also that the facilitator will want to deliver more, similar workshops in the future - a win-win.
Outside In operates rather differently, not delivering these types of workshops, but working as an advocate for artists who face barriers to getting their work seen because of disability or ill health for example. As a member, regardless of the reasons for needing support, each is recognised purely as an artist and is encouraged to make their own decisions about what they need in terms of support. Particularly, the charity gives them a platform for showing their art through the online gallery and Hannah Whitlock, the Artist Programme Development Manager, says this helps people to engage with the art world and develops their confidence. The most recent evaluation published by the charity states the main impacts on artists as:
Starting as a project based at Pallant House, we’ve seen above how the collaboration brought significant benefits for artists with special needs and in turn that positive experience has very much influenced Outside In’s current activity as they challenge the art world and create exhibition opportunities at galleries all over the country. A recent example was in Brighton at the Phoenix Art Space, where the ‘Under a Blue Sky’ exhibition featured work by Alan Payler alongside that of his fellow artists from a community art project in Darlington, run for people with learning disabilities. For me, the creativity was bursting from Alan’s work and here is one of the photos I took when visiting that exhibition - so you can make up your own mind!
Alan Payler's work displayed at Phoenix Art Space, April 2022