News & Events

Independent Arts and Singing for the Brain

Fundraising concert for Singing for the Brain

On 24 June the Sounds Lively Community Choir performed a Midsummer Celebration of Song, Strawberries and Sunshine at Carisbrooke Priory in aid of the Alzheimer's Society and Independent Arts project, Singing for the Brain.

Sounds Lively Community Choir has been going for eight years on the Isle of Wight, led by Natural Voice Practitioner, Maggie O'Connor. The choir's repertoire includes songs from all over the world, from Georgian hymns to Irving Berlin, Kenyan greetings to Maori love songs.

About Singing for the Brain:

Independent Arts has recently been delivering Singing for the Brain sessions on the Isle of Wight on behalf of the Alzheimer's Society, which have been extremely well-received. Initial sessions were funded by Age Concern and the Rural Communities Council, and we have obtained further funding to roll out Singing for the Brain to more island venues in 2010.

According to the Alzheimer’s Society "Singing is not only an enjoyable activity, it can also provide a way for people with dementia, along with their carers, to express themselves and socialise with others in a fun and supportive group.

"Hidden in the fun are activities which build on the well-known preserved memory for song and music in the brain. Even when many memories are hard to retrieve, music is especially easy to recall."

Charlotte Hofton wrote supportively in the Isle of Wight County Press (19 March 2010) about Singing for the Brain after visiting an Independent Arts session led by practitioner Sandy Kealty:

The view from here: The sound of music that's worth the expense

Independent Arts also has a range of musicians and singers visiting care homes. For a personal insight into how transformative singing in care homes can be, check out this Telegraph article (19 March 2010) by singer Patricia Hammond, who visits care homes on the mainland:

Awakenings: the beauty and sadness of performing in care homes for the elderly

Past news & events

Imagination: an Independent Arts Exhibition was a travelling exhibition of photographs which demonstrated the creativity of people on the Island with special needs. It ran at the Full Circle Exhibitions Space, St Mary's Hospital, Newport from November 2009-January 2010, and afterwards at St Thomas's Church in Newport.

During Summer 2009, Independent Arts ran a Sculpture project across the Island, supported by funding from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Foundation.

Members from Sunnycrest Nursery in Newchurch, Ryde House, Meadowbrook and Haylands Farm in Ryde, St Catherine's School in Ventnor and Thomson House, Beaulieu House and the Medina Centre in Newport took part in the project, working both as individuals and in groups with professional Island sculptors, Dave Badman and Lucy Wells, making a wide variety of sculptures from their imagination.

Guy Eades, Healing Arts Director for the Island's NHS said: "One of the project's main intentions was to teach and guide persons at each venue in the making of sculpture so that it could become a regular part of each venues on-going activities and the success of the project has inspired them to go on and do just that. So we are delighted to be able to show at Full Circle the photographs of what was made on the project over the summer as they show fantastic levels of imagination and enterprise from all who took part."

The project was photographed by Helen Butler, and exhibited at various venues across the Island, creating awareness of both the work done by Independent Arts in the Island's community and demonstrating the creativity of the people with whom it works.

The exhibition was presented in partnership with Healing Arts, the arts and health department of the Isle of Wight NHS Primary Care Trust.

Book out now!

We are proud to announce that our first book is out now: 'Down Memory Lane, Personal stories of life on the Isle of Wight before 1970', edited by Helen Butler, with illustrations by popular cartoonist, Besley. Local history brought to life by a wide range of people sharing their memories of school, work, wartime and all aspects of island life in the mid-20th Century. Available from local shops or direct from Independent Arts for £5.99.

Havenstreet Station hosted our trial run of Silver Cinema in May 2009, which recreated an old-style cinema experience, with classic films and historic newsreels. It is aimed at those who cannot get out on their own and would like to socialise.

Thanks to a grant from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Foundation we have started a Community Sculpture Project for people with special needs.

We exhibited artwork at the Apollo Theatre and Quay Arts in spring 09, which showed the versatility of our client group and practitioners.

Singing for the Brain, for Alzheimers and stroke sufferers, is a new project for Independent Arts led by practitioner Sandy Kealty. Thanks to Age Concern for providing funding for the first sessions and to the Concertina Trust for contributing towards the cost of traveling to the mainland for training sessions.

Independent Arts attended several Island events in summer 2009:

• Chale Show on 1 and 2 August 2009
• Big Green Picnic on 15 and 16 August 2009
• Wolverton Manor Garden Fair on 5 and 6 September 2009
• Bestival on 11, 12 and 13 September 2009

Bestival kindly donated a pair of tickets for Independent Arts to auction at Wolverton Manor Garden Fair, which raised £290 for the charity.

Projects and exhibitions in 2008

One of our first new ventures was to design and make a mosaic for Robin Hill Country Park. A professional mosaic artist, Catherine Van Giap, guided clients in the complex task of fitting the tiles together to make the pictures. Learning difficulty clients, adults and children, plus older people helped make the piece. Thank you to Wightlink and Robin Hill for funding this project. Alan Titchmarsh unveiled the mosaic at the Garden Festival held at Robin Hill.

We worked on ideas for a photography project with Dimbola Lodge. Photography is a new venture for Independent Arts and we look forward to helping clients produce some stunning pictures for their homes – and to raise their self -esteem and sense of achievement.

Soundbeam is being taken into new dimensions by combining it with movement/dance and art. This is still in the experimental stage but Soundbeam is such a versatile tool in skilled hands that we have great expectations of some really exciting sessions. Learning difficulty clients will also benefit from this project.

Independent Arts put on six exhibitions in 2008. The main theme was art/reminiscence.

All exhibitions ran for one month:

• 3rd March 08 at Ventnor library
• 6th May 08 at Freshwater library
• 2nd June 08 at Bembridge library
• 1st September 08 at Dimbola, in the Tea Room
• 2nd November 08 at Ryde library
• 1st December 08 at Lord Louis library, Newport

This project was funded by a Help the Aged grant.

Also with funding from Help the Aged, we collated fascinating stories about the early lives of our older clients and the general public for our first book.