Our Creative Journeys project with partners Sinfonia Viva and South Holland District Council (SHDC) was one of the first casualties of the pandemic in 2020. Senior Creative Producer Jan Ford explains how the project has adapted to continue with Extraordinary Art Packages...

Building on the first project in 2019, we were ready to start the first phase of creative work with sheltered housing settings and composer Sam Glazer and a team of musicians from Sinfonia Viva when the first lockdown in 2020 struck...

The initial idea was to go digital, but this was thwarted. The inequalities of digital technology were immediately revealed as the settings were not equipped with communal broadband plus most residents did not have iPads, laptops or smart phones. We would immediately exclude people from participating if they didn’t have the technology. Staffing became an issue too as one by one the South Holland Council community team were seconded to Covid support roles so there was nobody on the ground to run the project even if we could. Hopes rose at the end of the first lockdown that some kind of live activities could take place but the residents were considered too vulnerable, with the majority shielding, that the risk assessment associated even with outdoor activities during the summer rapidly disappeared and before we knew it we were into lockdowns 2 and 3.

The Extraordinary Art Packs, designed by artist Abbie Canning, writer Hazel Gould and music leader Hannah Opstad, are being delivered to 300 people living in sheltered housing across the district this week and everyone will be invited to post back their creative contributions which will be collated and shared on an online gallery.

The pack also includes a DVD of a performance by Viva’s string quartet which was recorded at Derbyshire’s Chatsworth House with introductions from the players about the music and their instruments.

The words and artwork residents create will be the inspiration for the Sinfonia Viva creative team to have telephone conversations with the local participants about their experiences during the pandemic and find out about their favourite music. This feedback will form the basis of a new song which will be composed, recorded and shared online. Dr Emily Bradfield will be helping to evaluate the programme using story gathering to measure the change in participants' state of mind and confidence levels.

Orchestras Live is taking a similar approach through other partnerships in the East where local authorities are using the arts as a way of supporting isolated and vulnerable people. Hundreds of Sinfonia Viva’s Extraordinary Arts Packs are also being distributed across Broadland in Norfolk and Babergh in Suffolk, with the opportunity for people to sign up for subsequent online sessions so they can work directly with an orchestral team.

We are looking forward to the response and to hearing the music created through the process, performed live outdoors at the settings if possible.

The work in South Holland has been made possible by an award from Postcode Community Trust, a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.