Unlocking art in older age

The Elderly Accommodation Counsel (EAC) is an information and advice source for housing and care in older age and our website is a starting point for exploring life housing options. We run a national information and advice network FirstStop and operate a telephone advice service. But we also believe that older age should be celebrated and that later life can provide opportunities to resume or develop creative instincts. So 20 years ago we envisioned the Over 60s Art Awards to do two things: encourage and showcase the skills and imagination of people over 60, while drawing attention to our work as a housing and care charity. EAC’s original aim was to encourage the take-up of art in sheltered housing. To promote it as a means of wellbeing and social interaction, unlocking the creative and social stimuli we all need to assert our independence and sense of worth in older age.

19 years and thousands of entries later, entrants aged 60 to 104 years come from all forms of housing and walks of life. Families are involved, younger generations are amazed by the hidden talents of their elders and a network of supporters and prize-givers have hitched on to the Awards bandwagon.

Younger generations are amazed by the hidden talents of their elders

The Awards are a significant logistical challenge for a small charity immersed in day-to-day housing and care work whose tiny volunteer team renews the enthusiasm and stamina each year required to sustain this event. The 15 categories include landscape, portrait, 3D, sculpture, photography, abstract, still life, botanical, textile, seascape and townscape and even cartoon. (You may wish to vote for The People’s Choice Prize – over 4,000 members of the public did so last year.) The Awards culminate in a prize-giving event at the House of Lords on 27 February and have two core themes: ‘Art and wellbeing’ and ‘Getting connected’, the latter a Trojan horse to promote digital inclusion by encouraging artists to upload their entries on to our online gallery.

2012 prize winner

Anita Harrison won the Angela Farnell Memorial Prize in last year’s awards for her painting the ‘Bavarian Alps farmer’. The two Angela Farnell Memorial Prizes of £500 prizes are awarded in memory of the founder of EAC to the best entries from artists living in sheltered or retirement housing or a care home, or who entered through a day centre. These prizes are divided between the artist and their sheltered scheme, care home or day centre. Anita (aged 91) said: “This was the first time I had entered the competition. I won the Angela Farnell Memorial Prize of £500, which was used to set up weekly painting classes for the inhabitants of my residential flats. The class provides a weekly social meeting and gives people the chance to try something they may never have done before. The class members have varying abilities, so we complement each other's skills with joint pieces. “I think the EAC Art Awards are brilliant as, even at an older age, people still have so much to give. Many people who had never painted before these classes have entered their work into the Awards this year, which is exciting!”

John Galvin is Chief Executive of the Elderly Accommodation Counsel.

www.housingcare.org

www.eacartawards.org.uk