The After Party evaluation report on a socially distanced care home project: March – July 2020

Author(s)

MAGIC ME

Publisher(s):

Magic Me

Publication year:

2020

This evaluation summarises outcomes for those involved in The After Party project, including care home residents and staff, volunteers, artists and staff from the care providers; and provides a short overview of Magic Me’s Cocktail in Care Homes (CICH) project, with a focus on the context of how The After Party began. The study also includes learning and suggestions for future work, in light of outcomes and learning from The After Party. For over 10 years Magic Me trained volunteers who were seeking connections with their local communities to come into their local care homes and have a party with residents. The After Party was developed as a way of keeping up the links with these key CICH sites during the pandemic, in place of the planned last few parties to mark the end of the CICH programme. Each month, After Party care partners received newsletters from Magic Me, which included artist actions and activities, alongside personalised messages from CICH Volunteers. After Party ‘care packages’ were sent via post by the artists, which included creative activities and resources, physical items, i.e. letters, artworks and/ or physical representations of artworks produced by volunteers and the wider public who have taken part in the creative activities throughout the month. They are physical mementos for residents, staff and the home/scheme. The evaluation found that Magic Me provided very easy to use care packages which met the needs of residents, were helpful to care staff, motivated volunteers and generated a great deal of happiness and interaction at a very difficult time. Benefits were felt by all involved. Although it was impossible to create the same sense of connection as when meeting face to face, it seems that The After Party managed to capture some of the energy and colour of the CICH parties and this was transferred into the online project. (Edited publisher abstract)