Case History: Local Authorities
Monday 1st March 2010
Living with Music was a creative partnership developed to build sustainable relationships between Dorset County Council: Social Care and Health, Cultural Services, LMN, special schools and musicians, fostering a sharing of ideas, contacts and networks to help design, fundraise and deliver the project.
Pre-project consultation revealed that a number of health groups wanted access to participatory arts/cultural activities. However, they lacked the time, knowledge, skills and resources to develop such work. Music was acknowledged as being a particularly accessible art form to use. The project combined the knowledge, skills and understanding of its partners to provide a mechanism for working between arts and health services and local communities.
Living with Music was therefore designed to enable engagement in high quality participatory live music opportunities for those who do not usually have access to live music, due to age, health conditions, access requirements and financial limitations. The project enabled older people, young people and children in special schools, people with learning and physical disabilities and mental health service users to articulate their cultural needs.
The project addressed social issues at a national, regional and local level:
| Public health issues and the government's key agendas and targets including the Local Area Agreement, particularly promoting cross-sector delivery.
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Living with Music identified ways in which arts and cultural activity can contribute to promoting inclusive, sustainable and healthier communities. |
| Dorset's Cultural and Community Strategies: 'to ensure that socially excluded groups and disabled people have access to cultural events (Cultural Strategy - Dorset 2003-8 p31). | The project provided LMN music sessions for socially excluded and marginalised groups. |
| Priorities within the agenda to modernise day services, promoting independence, choice and educational/employment skills for community involvement. | The project showed that accessible community activities can promote independent living and greater social inclusion, enabling people to have/make choices and find alternatives to current day-care provision |
The concert was excellent with lots of encouragement to interact with the musicians which clearly people enjoyed. So often there is an assumption that people with learning disabilities would not understand or enjoy music like this which we know is so wrong. The reaction to today's performance confirmed how much people enjoy and value the experience tremendously. Manager: Day Centre, Weymouth.
Living with Music was supported by: Dorset County Council, Ferndown Town Council, Wareham Town Council, Wimborne Town Council, Chickerell Town Council, Weymouth Lord Mayors Christmas Fund, Shaftesbury Town Council, Joyce Fletcher Charitable Trust, Anonymous Benefactor,.
