The Scottish Government

GLASGOW CULTURAL PATHFINDER PROJECT - INTERIM REPORT

Introduction

Glasgow's Cultural Pathfinder project began in late February 2007. The wider context for the project is Scotland's growing older population and the need to begin now in developing cultural provision to cater for this age-group. Within Glasgow the Encourage programme has been running since 2002 opening up the arts for people over 50. From this programme has emerged the need for more targeted and tailored work for disadvantaged older people over 60. The Cultural Pathfinder project has made a good start on this in terms of exploration and discussion. Two events have taken place to date, with follow-up work in progress. Plans for the remaining events are underway and positive moves towards a pilot arts ambassador programme are in motion.

A key area for Glasgow's Pathfinder is to embed the work into the Local Community Planning Partnerships (LCPP) structures. Initial work has shown this is not straight-forward and the project is developing activity to open up further dialogue between community planning and the arts in Glasgow. As well as navigating the fairly new LCPP structures the project is now working with changes brought by moving out with the City Council (GCC). Since the project began GCC Cultural and Leisure Services, who manage the project, has become Culture and Sport Glasgow (CSG), an independent charitable company. Structural changes are ongoing and Glasgow's Pathfinder is therefore exploring pathways to the Company's new central and local ways of working.

Overall the project is considering the need to sustain the work beyond this year and is looking at which aspects and ways to help this to happen. There is a good amount of small-scale participatory arts activity for older people taking place but this is fragmented across the city and is of varying quality, scope, aspiration and outcome. So far the project has been welcomed with enthusiasm by participants and momentum is beginning to grow towards a more vibrant dialogue between older people and the arts in Glasgow. If this can be supported and carried forward to give the work a higher profile, greater recognition and a clearer direction and link into current arts provision, Glasgow's Cultural Pathfinder will have been worthwhile.

Kirsty White

Arts Development Officer for Social Inclusion, Culture and Sport Glasgow.

What do we mean by disadvantaged older people?

There are approximately 100,000 people over 60 resident in Glasgow, all entitled to access the arts. Glasgow's Pathfinder focuses on reaching the most disadvantaged older people with particular focus on disabled people and people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds. Past experience, particularly through the Encourage programme has shown these groups to be less easy to reach and difficult to sustain as participants or audiences. Encourage currently aims to make the arts in Glasgow more accessible by offering reduced price tickets for a programme under the recognised and trusted Encourage brand. The programme is made up of selected events already happening in the city, such as performances at the Theatre Royal. The autumn '07 programme is included in the appendices. The reasons currently known for poor take-up among certain older people includes cultural difference and lack of interest, transport problems and lack of means and/or willingness to buy tickets. As the pathfinder project progresses we are also finding that there is some unawareness of what is on offer or what is possible.

For Glasgow's Pathfinder the aim is to work closely with these groups and individuals to understand and address the barriers. The starting point has been to develop tailored activity for day centres, residential units, hospitals, housing associations, charities and voluntary organisations, particularly those who have not previously taken up on Encourage and the arts. Day centres offer places on an assessment of need, using criteria such as isolation, physical disability, sensory impairments or mental health issues e.g. depression or dementia. Most day centres have their own activity programmes which aim to tackle these issues but there is scope for further arts development in this setting. With the Care Commission's recent drive to increase activities within services for older people it is important care staff and activity co-ordinators know where to turn to seek out good quality and varied arts activities in the city and for the arts sector to be able to respond to this.

To date the Pathfinder has worked with a range of disabilities including long-term mental health illness, dementia, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. Barriers are fairly well-known and include:

• Performances can be too long for disabled older people to manage comfortably
• Reluctance to attend events after dark due to safety issues
• Concern from carers that older people with dementia may disturb other members of the audience at performances
• Lack of social networks to support attendance at events i.e. accompany older people to events
• Transport problems, particularly for disabled people

Pathfinder participants from black and ethnic minorities to date have been from multi-cultural day centres and predominantly of Indian, Pakistani or Chinese background. The barriers that have been emerging are:

• Limited support for activity from some centre staff and reluctance to attend activity out with their own day centre
• Lack of interest in many of the current programmes on offer in the city
• Resistance to try unfamiliar or new activities
• Limited resources for centres to sustain tailored work exclusively for their clients
• Communication issues e.g. in one case not knowing the Development Officer seemed to pose a barrier
• Also basic research into the number of asylum seeker and refugee over 60s living in Glasgow has yielded no contacts.

In working with disadvantaged older people one size obviously does not fit all. The 60+ age group spans several generations made up of individuals with differing needs, requests, tastes and ideas. For some people events out with their day centres is exactly what is wanted, while carers feel that for others this just wouldn't be the right thing. The approach taken has therefore been flexible and responsive and therefore requiring of time.

Arts and Older People in Glasgow

A basic survey of older people's involvement in the arts in Glasgow was carried out at the beginning of the project. Questionnaires were sent to all Council day centres and residential homes as well as a number of voluntary organisations, charities and organisations for older people. Initially we attempted to undertake the survey by phone but soon realised this was unworkable. More often than not phone questionnaires were, understandably, an unwelcome interruption for carers and staff. Approximately 300 questionnaires were therefore sent out with a return of just under 25%. We were conscious this exercise had its limitations and used the mail-out as a general welcome to the project in its early stages. We were also aware that those who were not responding may be those we would most want to reach. We did however feel satisfied that the survey had helped us reach "new" contacts as it yielded a good number of returns from organisations we had not previously worked with.

A summary of the mapping exercise can be found in the appendices. Information was also circulated in meetings and via the email newsletter. The following are strands of work which emerged from the survey and are currently being taking forward by the project:

• increase opportunity to try new activities, particularly drama and dance which was registered as having the lowest take-up, particularly as a hands on activity
• explore ways to give more focus, profile and aspiration to current arts & crafts work in day centres
• offer support for care staff/activity co-ordinators
• develop activities that engage older men

Events Programme

Glasgow's Cultural Pathfinder is to deliver an event or two small events in each of the ten Local Community Planning Partnership areas that make up the City, testing different models and approaches in each. The events are exploring themes which take note of a number of current strategies for older people such 'All Our Futures', the relevant Community Planning Partnerhsip (CPP) themes and Culture and Sport Glasgow priorities, including:

• Intergenerational work
• Engagement and representation; perspectives and voice & reminiscence - with a difference
• Vibrant Glasgow (CPP theme)
• Learning Glasgow (CPP theme)
• Working towards new CSG structures and increasing inter-departmental working
• Older people and technology

Planning

The original intention was to set up steering groups for each area. For the first large event in the Pollokshields area a planning group was formed which met twice prior to the event. The project came to the area with a general overview of the local culture. However the steering group would deepen this and ensure consultation with and involvement of, local teams, such as the Community Action Team (CAT), Local Community Planning Partnership (LCPP) and Community Health and Care Partnership (CHCP). The mapping exercise had asked day centres etc. whether they would be interested in taking part in planning meetings and those who responded positively from within this area were invited to the initial meeting. Added to this were the artists and arts organisations we hoped to work with, which made an overall group of 13.

The strength of this approach lay in its ability to plant seeds for future development and its potential to embed the activities into local priorities. However the planning meetings also brought to light a number of barriers, mainly that the project is in competition with other workloads and priorities within community planning, which two planning meetings obviously cannot overcome. For example younger people are a higher priority than older people for the LCPP teams. It also became clear that there is not currently a straightforward way for the arts to engage with all LCPP structures across the city. Further information on this can be found in the Community Planning section below. For the remaining local events it has therefore not been possible or necessarily desirable to use the same planning approach.

Events

Two events have taken place to date, Tea in the Garden in west Glasgow and Growing Bolder in the south-side.

Tea in the Garden, Gartnavel Hospital

Tea in the Garden, Glasgow's first Pathfinder event took place on 28 June at Gartnavel Royal Hospital. The event was particularly for older people with mental health illness. Culture and Sport Glasgow (CSG) collaborated with Polyphony, an organisation working for positive mental health and well being through therapeutic music activities in the inpatient wards of Gartnavel Royal and in residential elderly care homes local to the Hospital. Polyphony also works with younger people and had planned a mini music festival at the hospital. As this would have been unsuitable for the older participants the aim was to open up the festival event to older people by adding a tailored activity to the programme. Tea in the Garden also aimed to enhance Polyphony's work by offering a musical genre not normally available live to participants and to invite other older people to the event in order to make the event as inclusive as possible. The event was an outdoor concert of music by members of the Tim Barella Big Band.

Prior to the event a taster session was offered within a Hospital ward. For some of the musicians from the band, this was the first time they had performed outside of a performance or arts venue. The project was interested to explore how a mainstream band would be received and how they themselves would find the experience. There are obviously organisations that specialise in delivering live music in hospital settings. For the pathfinder we wanted to expand on this by offering a concert experience that was not performed in a ward exclusively for patients.

Evaluation is proving to be a gradual process for this project. We are currently awaiting response to a questionnaire sent to carers which asks for their views on future activity and for their interpretation of feedback from clients. An evaluation meeting has taken place between CSG and a member of Polyphony. These are the overall conclusions to date:

• The project succeeded in delivering a good quality music event for excluded older people and the audience enjoyed the concert
• The taster session encouraged care staff to get involved - their enthusiasm was important to the event
• The Tim Barella musicians were new to the setting but adapted very quickly
• The project opened up discussion about what 'dialogue between arts and older people' means in this context. It was felt that work could be developed where older people have opportunity to contribute, rather than having a concert delivered to them alone
• The project initiated a new partnership between a mainstream organisation and a specialist music organisation with potential to develop.
• Polyphony would welcome proposals for similar events
• There is some potential for mentoring and collaboration between but it is likely to be very informal. The band are effectively a music collective not necessarily geared to or interested in entering an organised mentoring scheme
• Opportunity to develop this event as an annual festival is restricted by Polyphony's own financial challenges
• Key to success was the involvement of a member of the Hospital's medical staff. Dr Wilson is involved in Polyphony and championing music in the Hospital.

Twenty Questions

Junction25 & Nithsdale Lodge performance at Growing Bolder, Tramway

Growing Bolder

Three day centres in the Pollokshields East and Southside area were involved in workshops which took place in their own centres and led to an afternoon event in Tramway on 10 July, 'Growing Bolder - about older people making the arts their own'. These were centres CSG had not directly worked with before and the officer met with a representative from each centre to discuss their aspirations:

• Dixon Day Care Centre's men's group worked with photographer Basharat Khan. This is a black and ethnic minority day centre and the men requested photography sessions
• Battlefield Day Care worked with visual artist, Beth Forde, exploring a range of techniques. The centre is keen to introduce sensory activities into their programme. Photographer, Rachel Thibbotumunuwe photographed the completed art works
• Nithsdale Lodge worked with Junction 25, a group of young people who work from Tramway to make contemporary theatre. Together they devised and produced a piece called TWENTY QUESTIONS. The performance was inspired by the questions Junction 25 had asked the group during workshop sessions. Nithsdale Lodge are very active in getting people involved but this was the first time they had tried working with young people.

The work created was presented at the Growing Bolder event alongside a performance by Scottish Ballet's Regenerate group for over 50s. Following this there was an opportunity to take part in a range of taster workshops, from music to gardening in the Hidden Gardens. The aim was to give a focus to the arts workshops and to open up access to and dialogue with the local arts venue, Tramway. The event was also intended as a test of how an annual older people's arts showcase event in Glasgow could work and an opportunity to explore potential for forming new groups within Tramway related to the building and its programme.

Culture and Sport Glasgow worked closely with Glasgow Grows Audiences to evaluate Growing Bolder. The report can be found in the appendices.

The findings have led to the following conclusions:

• Participants felt arts provision for them was generally lacking and irregular
• Participants were satisfied with the event. The model worked well in many ways - broadening horizons, increasing confidence and pride and expanding demand for arts
• Arts Ambassador developmental work for Carers and Activity Co-ordinators should be explored further. Their involvement and enthusiasm is crucial
• Focus groups worked relatively well but should be kept separate from the event(s)
• There are differing opinions around whether activity should be focused in or out with day centres. Obviously individual needs are a factor but there also appears to be cultural issues and expectations at work. Further exploration particularly with BME groups is needed
• In some cases more attention should be given to individual's abilities/level of skills when designing workshops
• Further work with venues is needed to ensure older people are made to feel welcome
• There is a call for more activity that provides transport or people to accompany older people to events
• Further work is needed to break down fear of the unknown, financial barriers and barriers around health or sensory impairments
• Provision of a central point for information would be helpful for Carers/Activity Co-ordinators in day care
• More activity for families and groups would be welcomed
• Activities for people with different abilities to participate together are welcomed

The Scottish Ballet performance and workshop were well-received and opened up potential and enthusiasm from local day centres for more dance/movement sessions. There appears to be potential for a regular dance activity for local day centres in the area.

The work with Junction25 was very successful and an effective and contemporary way of presenting older people's voices where they themselves may be unable or unwilling to perform on stage. Helping people with dementia includes providing time markers and reference points. The event appears to have provided a reference point with the group continuing to talk about the project regularly. The event worked well because it was a special session for older people with an audience sympathetic with one another. Junction25 are looking to continue this work and are working with CSG to identify funding. The aspiration is for this work to become part of Tramway's regular programme.

The idea of an annual festival for older people was shown to have potential and there is enthusiasm for this to happen. Central co-ordination or a venue led approach is obviously required. South Lanarkshire's Arts Development Team, for example run the annual Young at Heart Festival at The Town House for people aged 50+.

Arts information packs were distributed at the event as a link to arts programmes available in the city. We have not yet been able to assess whether these have been effective. The intention is to bring the planning group back together and this will be opportunity to assess this and take the activity forward.

Wing Hong Workshops

Artist, Rachel O'Neill has undertaken a series of visual art workshops for older Chinese people at the Wing Hong Day Centre.

Initial work began during a short intergenerational project for Glasgow's Inspiration festival for children and young people last year. Building a relationship with the Centre has been gradual and communication slow. We therefore decided to continue providing tailored sessions to build confidence and explore ways of working with the older people.

The artist made a decision to work without an interpreter and focus on communication through art making. The artist faced a number of difficulties engaging the group although kite-making and silk painting worked well. Issues included:

• lack of communication and support from the Centre Manager
• difficulties around the creative practice used and particularly the open ended approach - "the older people were stubborn about what they wanted to do" Artist
• lack of time to develop relationships
• unclear whether older people had chosen to attend the workshops
• lack of attendance when lack of communication within the Centre
• interruptions from other activities

On the plus side there was an average of 15 people at each session with 24 people at the initial session, including four men. They seemed keen to go through the process of making things. Once the artist had established a positive contact within the Centre, communication improved. For the artist achievement was about forming a bond with the group and the group did begin to increase in confidence and show pride in the work they created together. The piece will be exhibited in the Centre.

For future activity the following would be recommended:

• 20 sessions minimum
• need for definite link person with the older people
• need for someone within the Centre to give context and introduction to the workshops
• time for group to identify their own themes
• need to set time aside for the artist to get to know the group perhaps by having lunch together in the Centre. The artist feels it important to become part of the life of the Centre in order to carry out the workshops effectively

Big Draw

Glasgow's Pathfinder is working in partnership with Glasgow's Museums and Galleries to deliver a series of workshops as part of the National Campaign for Drawing's annual national showcase, the Big Draw. The workshops offer a route into Museums for older people with activity taking inspiration from the collections as follows:

• People's Palace collage workshops for grandparents and their grandchildren
• Museum of Transport digital image workshops for grandparents & grandchildren
• Burrell Collection visual art workshops for older Chinese people and a local day care group
• St Mungo's Museum workshops and event for older people from day care. Several groups will contribute to a wall piece to be exhibited in the Museum

These workshops are still in process but the reaction from the grandparents' workshops has been very positive. The workshops have also shown the strengths and weaknesses in the partnership between Arts Development and Museums which will be assessed on conclusion of the workshops.

Community Planning

It quickly became apparent that involving LCPP Officers in planning meetings is not going far enough in 'embedding' the activity into community planning structures. In order to gain a greater understanding of how Glasgow's Community Planning Partnership is working, an information session was set up through the Pathfinder project with presentations from a LCPP Regeneration Manager, LCPP Community Engagement Co-ordinator and the Manager from the Equalities Partnership.

The session helped identify the barriers preventing the pathfinder activity, and the arts in general, becoming embedded in the LCPP structures. Support for the arts is strong in some LCPP areas of the city and is championed by some members of the LCPP teams. However in order for this to be effective and to involve all areas a greater understanding and commitment at decision making level would be needed. There are possibilities for an advocacy group for the arts in community planning with the possibility. But this is a larger piece of work out with the bounds of the pathfinder project.

There is also opportunity to link with the Equalities Partnership, which is currently in consultation phase working towards an Equalities Hub. Older people and age are being gradually being brought into this as an equalities issue.

Arts Ambassadors

The Growing Bolder project brought to light the potential for activity coordinators to become ambassadors for the arts. In response we have begun offering training and professional sessions tailored to their needs. To date one session has taken place and another is due to happen in November.

Touchdown

In August a taster training session was offered free of charge. The session was publicised through Glasgow's Pathfinder email update and via project posters and the session was fully booked with 15 participants. The session was facilitated by Touchdown dance from Manchester through a project with Glasgow's Dance House.

We are currently working in partnership with Alzheimer Scotland, Dance House and Touchdown to get a more in-depth training programme in Glasgow. Several other organisations have expressed an interest in getting involved.

City Halls

The session will offer the opportunity to attend a BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) rehearsal followed by a hands-on music taster workshop. The aim is to show what is on offer at city halls and spark an interest in becoming arts ambassadors. The session will include a focus group discussion. We are targeting individuals who attend Encourage events as well as day centre activity co-ordinators.

RSVP

We are currently in discussion with Community Service Volunteers (CSV), Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme (RSVP) to pilot a volunteer arts ambassador scheme focused around Celtic Connections. There is a need to develop support to enable older people living in their own homes to attend arts events. The pilot will promote opportunities for volunteers to accompany and provide transport for older people. This is a new partnership with the potential to become a longer term scheme which we hope will be more effective than initiating our own policies and scheme from scratch. This element of the project will also explore links with the Encourage programme based at Strathclyde University's Senior Studies Institute, particularly in terms of capacity building work for volunteers.

Black and Ethnic Minority Group

Activity to date has indicated the need to bring together staff from BME day centres across the city to discuss how to support staff to increase access to the arts in Glasgow. An initial focus group will take place on 31 October '07.

Newsletter, website, publicity, marketing

An email update newsletter for the project is circulated regularly to a network of approximately 100. This email network has been developed as part of the Pathfinder project. The newsletter provides a focal point for the different parts of the project and for ongoing work, dialogue and reflection about arts and older people. The aim is to form useful connections between existing activity, to share practice and to inspire new work and new possibilities for older people and the arts in Glasgow. The newsletter also provides space for reflective practice about the project and arts and older people. There are indications that this is a useful tool with the first newsletter yielding a number of new enquiries and contacts.

Marketing has been a mix of printed material, emails, web postings, phone calls and visits. To give the different parts of the project an overall identity, posters have been designed. These have been distributed to contacts in our database. We have approximately 300 contacts currently in the database which is being updated and maintained as part of the Pathfinder.

Direct contact with centres via visits and phone calls is often the most effective marketing. Building relationships between arts organisations and centre staff has required CSG to make initial contact and introductions. This obviously restricts the number of relationships possible during the project but we are on track for building a number of partnerships as per the evaluation framework in the appendices. Longer term marketing and incentives to encourage arts organisations to provide activity for older people as well as increased capacity to deliver arts engagement in the community for older people is needed.

Fundraising

Attempts to raise funds have not yet been successful. The feedback from a bid to the Scottish Community Foundation (SCF) for intergenerational work in north Glasgow was positive. They liked the idea of a 'buddying' scheme but would have liked to see the project tackle a particular community issue more clearly. This was a new funding stream for work that crossed generations and the SCF selected only one project to support.

An application to the Scottish Arts Council Arfull scheme was also unsuccessful. This was for very detailed work with a Chinese Day Centre to promote good mental health. Feedback was critical of the exclusive nature of the proposed project. We are, however, finding that the Chinese older people at the day centre prefer to work in their own group and integrating them into other activities is a very gradual process that needs longer-term time and resource.

There may be fundraising undertaken by organisations involved in the project but this is dependent on time. CSG is working to raise funds to continue work with Junction25 in the south of the city.

Working with other local authorities

An attempt has been made to work with North Lanarkshire Council. The aim was to connect an older people's drama group currently working in Coatbridge with a group in the east of Glasgow. Both groups would work together to build a performance piece to be performed in each local authority area. A preliminary meeting between the CSG and North Lanarkshire Arts Officer and Community Learning Officer was positive. However a subsequent proposal submitted to the Community Learning department for approval and some financial input was not supported. We are continuing to seek ways to work together and we have also invited East Renfrewshire to the BME steering meeting at the end of October.

Consultation and evaluation

The project is looking to develop a basic creative consultation toolkit for working with older people and the arts. This will emerge through the following projects:

• Junction 25 intergenerational project for Growing Bolder looked at how contemporary theatre practice can get older people's voice heard
• Writing project exploring what it means to grow older in Glasgow. The writer will record the creative process undertaken in resea rching and creating work through workshops with older people
• We are also currently looking into a small film project exploring how age interacts with art in the city and what difference the pathfinder has made

The Growing Bolder event was partly evaluated by an external organisation, Glasgow Grows Audiences (GGA). CSG is evaluating the remaining events with advice from GGA. The main tool being used is focus groups and questionnaires. We are making the process as easy as possible for people in the hope of yielding a satisfactory number of responses.

In order to get an overview of the many small parts of the project we will hold an evaluation session towards the end of the project, with an external facilitator. Several of the project artists are keeping notes on aspects such as engagement, practice, reflection and organisation to feed into the evaluation and this work has been included in their fees. Additional elements being added to the evaluation include a record of suggestions and ideas made out with the events framework.

We plan to circulate evaluation findings to a number of groups across Glasgow including the CSG strategic Community Planning Partnership group. Further work is required in building a two-way dialogue with Glasgow City Council's Social Work department, central office and the Community Health and Social Care Partnerships. We are continuing to seek a champion for the arts within these who will feed into the evaluation but this takes time. The Council's Head of Community Care is assisting where he can but this is limited by other commitments.

Timeline

June: Tea in the Garden event

July: Growing Bolder event

September: Touchdown dance workshop, LCPP information session

October: Big Draw, Stirlingfauld Flats project, BME group meeting

Funding applications for continuation work with Junction25

November: BBC City Halls afternoon

December: LCPP advocacy group meeting

January: Dance House project, writing project which will be part of the Aye Write festival, Art in Hospital project, RSVP & Celtic Connections

February: Fablevision project

March: north intergenerational project performance, Junction 25 continuation, east end drama performance

April: evaluation meeting. Report delivered end April 2008

Conclusions and reflections

• To date we have attempted to follow up on as many requests and aspirations as possible. The project has supported various organisations with arts information and advice. As the project is in its second half ideas for future work should be recorded but may not be acted upon within the project timescale. A record of suggestions will be maintained and fed into the final report
• Contact with Glasgow City Council Social Work has tended to be through day care centres. Some contact has been made with Glasgow's Head of Community Care and there is an interest in the arts. Within the timescales of the project it seems likely that the focus will remain at day care level. We hope to offer an informal arts forum for day centre activity co-ordinators through the arts ambassador events
• Some contact has also been made with housing associations and again further contact would be useful. As part of the Pathfinder there has been some partnership work undertaken with Silver Deal, a physical activities programme for Glasgow Housing Association tenants over 50 managed by CSG Sport Department. The Pathfinder and Silver Deal plan to work closely together to deliver a project in the Pollok area of Glasgow
• An Audit of 'friends of', 'buddying' and volunteer or arts ambassador schemes for arts organisations in Glasgow and across Scotland would be useful but out with the capacity of this project
• There is a need for a central information point and the links between the pathfinder and Encourage are ongoing. CSG will continue to support Encourage as a core programme in 2008/09 and hopes to carry out community based activity to spark interest in Encourage. This will take the form of a series of road-shows for autumn 2008. The pathfinder will test this model in one area, the east area of the city in spring '08, in close collaboration with the Community Action Team.