Diagrama Foundation awarded £100k for arts project

Diagrama Foundation has been awarded more than £100,000 to fund a new arts project for adults with learning disabilities and the elderly.

Diagrama Foundation will be the lead partner in the multi-national GALA (Gentle Art, Living Art) project which aims to empower vulnerable people.

Funding of 112,900 euro has been awarded by the Erasmus Plus Programme (European Lifelong Learning, Adult Education measure) to be shared with partners from Spain, Belgium, France and Romania.

The project aims to create new cultural inclusion activities for vulnerable people by training care workers and volunteers in Gentle Learning techniques developed by Groep Ubuntu in Belgium – which is renowned for excellent professional practice in communicating, motivating and empowering disadvantaged people.

Diagrama Foundation, based at Anchorage House in Chatham, Kent, will be working with adults with learning disabilities at its residential home Cabrini House in Orpington and with the elderly at Edensor Care Centre in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.

The project is based around a series of creative art training workshops and will culminate in a mixed art exhibition to be held in Rochester in June 2019. As part of each workshop the participants and staff will work together to create a legacy artwork which will then be donated to the local community or host organisation.

Each workshop will include tutorials and visits to relevant good practice local projects, cultural awareness, client empowerment and staff development sessions.

David McGuire, chief executive of Diagrama Foundation said: “This is fantastic news – the GALA project will transform the arts provision for our centres in the UK and will help the vulnerable people that we care for to be able to express themselves more creatively.

“We’re looking forward to learning from our European partners who are already delivering excellent therapeutic art programmes within their own countries.

“With plans to hold a final exhibition to showcase the artwork and techniques used, we’re hoping that many other local organisations and individuals will be able to benefit from the project too.”

Other partners in the project include: Groep Ubuntu, Kortrijk, Belgium; Association ProVita, Valenii de Munte, Romania; Diagrama Foundation, Spain; L’Art et La Maniere, St Clementin, France.