In What Ways Can Older People Challenge Loneliness?
Saturday 6 February, 1.30
The Lecture Theatre, The Storey
The average age of the world’s population is rising, with many living longer lives, but how happy are their twilight years? In countries with high mortality rates, social isolation is one of the biggest causes of depression, bringing associated economic costs. How is society tackling this phenomena?
Professor Emma Rose is an academic researcher based in the Institute of Contemporary Arts who connects themes in contemporary art with theoretical ideas on therapeutic landscapes to benefit health and wellbeing. Her recent research examines how a participatory painting activity, evoking emotions and memories connected with therapeutic landscapes, impacts older people's subjective wellbeing and social inclusion. With a colleague in the Department of Health Research she has recently been successful in winning an Economic and Social Research Council CASE studentship to fund a student to undertake a Masters followed by Doctoral study to evaluate the impact of arts activities on older people experiencing dementia.
Andy Smith is an award winning theatre maker based in Lancaster, and an associate artist of Lancaster Arts. His latest work, ‘The Preston Bill’, will be performed on the 9th of February as part of The Festival of Questions. It tells the story of the life of a man from that city between the years of 1935 and 2015.
Denise Nardone works at Barton Road Community Centre - a thriving centre offering a wide variety of groups and activities for all ages. One particular area of her work is supporting the over 70s Coffee Group who without fail, attend every Thursday morning, regardless of the weather. All but one, who attend the group live alone. Without the group, many of the the members would live in total isolation - are they happy in their twilight years? Denise is in a very privileged position of knowing much about their lives, and knowing how big an issue of social isolation in their twilight years really is.
Katherine Froggart
Katherine Froggatt (Chair), Andy Smith, Denise Nardone and Emma Rose
#myquestionis and #FestQ
This panel discussion is part of Day of Questions #1.
Presented by Lancaster Arts in partnership with Modern Culture, & Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at Lancaster University, with venue partners The Storey and The Dukes
