School for Generational Storytelling

The School for Generational Storytelling is an Arts and Health project, created by The Model in partnership with artist Eamon O’Kane. Recognising the therapeutic value of creative engagement, the project engaged staff and residents in six care homes in County Sligo in a series of workshops, exploring the potential of creativity to stimulate memory, cognition and well-being.

Supported by artist Chelsea Canavan, residents of participating care homes engaged in hands-on creative workshops which were designed to foster intergenerational connections through storytelling, visual art, and music. Designed to spark memories and encourage self-expression, a key aspect of the project was to collaborate with the care homes staff to tailor activities to residents’ interests and cognitive abilities, ensuring a meaningful and inclusive experience. The collaborative methodology at the heart of the project has created a bridge for communication and connection. The initiative will serve as a valuable resource in arts and health contexts, as well as a practical model of learning for students on BA Social-Care courses.

A significant outcome of the project is a set of bespoke creative toolkits, which have been given to each of the care homes involved in the project – Bailey’s Nursing Home, Nazareth House, St. John’s Community Hospital, Mowlam Nursing Home and Sonas Ard Na Gréine. The toolkits contain carefully curated objects and creative materials inspired by the year-long collaboration, which are designed for long-term, collaboration and multiple use. They will be augmented with a library of additional creative elements which can be added to the toolkits. The library will act like as a living repository of objects where elements are swapped and loaned to participating care homes.

The School for Intergenerational Storytelling will be showcased in The Model atrium from Thursday, March 27thto Saturday, May 5th.

Celebration Launch: Wednesday, 26th March at 2pm.

Eamon O’Kane was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and lives in Denmark and Norway. His multi-disciplinary practice has consistently been drawn to architectural contexts, whether in his Froebel Studio installation works that explore environments of play, or his artworks such as Glass House, inspired by post-modernists, such as architect Philip Johnson and artist Mies van der Rohe. Eamon O'Kane is Professor of Visual Art at The Art Academy, Faculty of University of Bergen, Norway. His work has been shown in group and solo exhibitions in Ireland, Europe and the United States.