Investment in arts programme

Jointly funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Arts and Older People Programme will provide new opportunities for older people to engage with the arts, by joining a workshop or trying out a new arts activity.

Through funding new, innovative, community-led projects across art form areas such as dance, painting, crafts, storytelling, music and song, the programme will highlight and tackle the social justice issues older people face on a daily basis.

REVEALED

The first round of funding opens on 8th July, with grants of up to 50,000 available to arts organisations, as well as community and voluntary groups.

Research has revealed that 21% of people in Northern Ireland aged 65 and over feel lonely often or always. Sixteen per cent do not leave their homes more than once a week and 7% never leave their homes.

However those that participated in arts activities experienced positive results, reporting an improvement in their overall mood and confidence, as well as helping to relieve stress, worries and pain.

Rosemary Kelly OBE, Chairman of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, explained: “We know that the arts have the power to raise self-esteem, confidence and motivation and can have a positive effect on an individual’s wellbeing. The arts have an important role to play in helping older people to find their voice, providing the tools to express the issues which affect them on a day-to-day basis, such as poverty, isolation, loneliness and mental illness.

“Over the course of the next three years it is our hope that through the arts this programme will help build a fairer, more inclusive society and improve the lives of those living in some of the most disadvantaged, deprived and marginalised areas of Northern Ireland.”

Ken Logue, Programme Executive of The Atlantic Philanthropies’ Ageing Programme, said: “Atlantic’s Ageing Programme is ultimately focused on ensuring that our society becomes a place where older people are genuinely included and respected. Older people in Northern Ireland continue to face discrimination and structural barriers to meaningful civic engagement. Our goal in supporting the Arts & Older People Programme is to encourage the arts community to identify and explore new ways of helping older people make their own voices heard. A key element of this Programme will be to harness the potential of the arts to make sure those voices are heard in the debates and discussions about policy which most affect older people today and in the future.”