The project aimed to engage different communities across Greater Manchester to access animation and storytelling skills for wellbeing, health and cultural enrichment and demonstrates the benefits animation has to offer, including a sense of inclusion through positive collaboration, developing a wide-range of artistic processes and freedom of self-expression.
We felt these aims were a perfect fit with Arc’s aims for Age Well, which consists of weekly artist-led workshops designed to build social connections and increase wellbeing for isolated older people over 60 in Stockport.
‘It’s saved me from being very lonely, to somebody enjoying their retirement. It’s like opening a window and I can see out and appreciate things and what’s around me – it’s been absolutely wonderful!’
Artists Jess and Maddie demonstrated different animation techniques; hand-drawn animation, collage animation and puppet animation and asked participants to reflect on which they’d enjoyed most to develop their own short animation.
“I enjoyed making the puppet heads because I used to do a pottery class and I miss it.”’
After Easter 2022 the participants visited the Cosgrove Hall Films Archive, spending time with an archivist who showed them puppets, moulds and other assets from much loved animation series such as Postman Pat & Wind in the Willow. They also had a chance to take some unused materials from the archive to use for their own characters and animations.
The exhibition will feature a new short stop motion animation film, plus set pieces, puppets and explanations of the process of this type of animation.
Join the participants to celebrate the launch of their exhibition and short film at the launch, where we are pleased to have some animation-related Saturday Art Club activities on Saturday September 24th, and also October 29th, inspired by the artwork.
The exhibition will be open to the public in The Gallery Cafe at Arc at Hat Works on Thursdays and Fridays from 10:00-16:00 until 16:00 on Friday November 11th.
If you are interested in our Age Well programme for yourself or someone you know or work with, please visit here for more information.
showcasing creations from an animation project with Arc’s Age Well programme participants.
