Independent Arts are working to help those self-isolating by holding virtual Anxiety Café sessions via Zoom, as well as planning to host virtual SingAbout sessions and virtual DanceMaker sessions very soon.
The Isle of Wight charity is used to delivering workshops to communities and residential homes across the Island as part of their programme to improve health and wellbeing using the arts. Government regulations to prevent the spread of Covid-19 has stalled their work – but not for long.
The team of staff and practitioners, supported by their team of volunteers, began planning how they could do things remotely to help reach some of their participants. This has involved looking at how technology can bring their practitioners to the people who need them most.
Operations Manager Hannah Griffiths explains:
“From the day that the new government regulations came into place to ask those who were vulnerable to self-isolate for twelve weeks, we started planning ways we could reach those who would be stuck behind closed doors for many weeks.
“It’s taken us a bit of time as we wanted to make sure that our workshops continued to be as good quality and accessible as always.
“We are pleased to announce that we are now running virtual Anxiety Café sessions via Zoom, we are planning to start virtual SingAbout next week and virtual DanceMakers sessions very soon. Our care home workshops are also going digital with our practitioners being beamed from their home into the care home. We are also putting daily content on our You Tube channel including poems, talks and songs that anybody can watch and enjoy.
“We will meet again, we know where, we just don’t know when. Hopefully we can see many of our regular participants and some new faces online very soon. SingAbout practitioner Hanna Nixon is helping is spread the message, with her beautiful signed and sung rendition of We’ll Meet Again. Visit the Independent Arts Website to see the video https://independentarts.org.uk/”
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Everyone is welcome to join the virtual sessions. To find out more about any of the virtual sessions or book a place, call 01983 822437 (between 10:00 and 15:00) or visit www.independentarts.org.uk.
