Thanks to the 100 people who booked to attend our Arts, Ageing and Activism Symposium on 9th October, which concluded our 1001 Stories Programme and will play a part in planning the next 3 years of activities for the Performance Ensemble and Age Friendly Leeds. We were delighted that over 40 different local and national organisations took part in the planning and delivery of our event, exploring a range of conversation topics across four key themes:
- Understanding real-life experiences of people who are 55 years old and above in Leeds and the UK,
- Making sure that the voices of people aged 55 and above are heard,
- Making creative and engaging activities easily accessible, and
- Identifying and solving issues with infrastructure, such as transportation.
We received suggestions for next steps and a wide selection of positive feedback:
“You could feel the room, it was great! Fantastic ideas – I could have sat at them all.”
From a social care professional
“This was the best conference I had been to in ages, seriously. It was great on so many levels. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The space, the views, the people and connections, the food! It was so worth me going to. I’m grateful for the hard work put in by the team to make it so great. Thank you.”
From a local arts facilitator
“I would just like to thank you for the opportunity to pose my question and discuss some of the issues. There were many ideas and possible solutions suggested which reflected the tone of the day. The delegates seemed to enjoy the discussion and there was lots of networking and interaction between everyone.”
From an older participant
“It was great to meet people in Leeds yesterday and make an in-person connection and really nice to hear and feel that by working together we can make an impact. Personally for me the event provided a much needed input of creativity, connection and just that extra sprinkle of magic that the arts can provide.”
From a representative of a national arts and social care organisation
As part of continuing to build relationships on the themes of the symposium, we were invited to Newcastle the following day to run a workshop on Voice and Agency at the National Creative Ageing Conference in partnership with local arts organisation, Hoot Creative Arts. This Conference launched a collection of essays describing an agenda for the future of Creative Ageing, featuring writing by The Performance Ensemble’s founder, Alan Lyddiard. You can find a link to the report below:.
