Fringe Cares Fest: Embedding Joy, Dignity, Cultural Access in Integrated Care for Older Adults

Background: Cultural participation is an important contributor to health, wellbeing, and social cohesion. Older residents in care homes, particularly individuals living with dementia or sensory impairment are often excluded from opportunities to engage with the arts and culture. This 60 minute workshop draws on learning from Fringe Cares Fest - a multi-site cultural intervention that originated in a single Edinburgh care home in 2022 and has expanded to 16 care homes, engaging over 1,000 residents. The session contributes to the evidence base for arts-in-health and integrated care by exploring how co-designed cultural interventions can foster dignity, creativity, and systemic change.

Audience:The session will interest practitioners, managers, commissioners and caregivers seeking to build their capability to optimise cultural inclusion and arts-based participation for older adults as part of a holistic and intergenerational approach to integrated care.

Approach: Delegates will participate in an interactive workshop facilitated by Professor Joe Goldblatt Founder Member of Fringe Care Fest and Rene Rigby MBE Independent Sector Lead for the City of Edinburgh. It guides participants through the steps involved in co-design of a cultural and arts-based intervention with care home residents and their families, care staff, and artists.

The session examine s how co-designed interventions enhance job satisfaction, support recruitment and retention, and foster inclusive professional development. Participants will engage with practical tools such as the Sensory Dignity Audit and Joy Audit and reflect on how meaningful activities—delivered across all roles—build capacity, relational confidence, and sector-wide morale. The session explores how to weave these elements into Continuous Professional Learning (CPL) frameworks.

Outline for session

• Context and introduction to the intervention - Scottish Care and Edinburgh InterFaith Association strategic partners – 5 minutes
• Video with lived experience narratives illustrating the building blocks for the intervention and impact - 10 minutes
• Group exercise 1 – Delegates explore engaging with local arts, culture and civil society sectors using participatory methods to prioritise from a menu of activities to create a tailored offer ensuring relevance and inclusivity .– 15 minutes.
• Description of mixed methods evaluation across participating sites incorporating surveys, interviews, observational data, and thematic analysis of resident and staff feedback. – 10 minutes
• Group exercise 2 – delegates map their designed intervention against the International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC)’s Nine Pillars to assess alignment with integrated care principles and identify an evaluation approach to persuade civic leaders and stakeholders to scale and sustain participation. – 15 minutes
• Wrap up – facilitated discussion on take-aways – 5 minutes

Outcomes: Delegates will take away practical strategies for embedding joy, dignity, and creativity into everyday care for older adults in residential settings. They will gain insight into how every role within care homes contributes to residents’ quality of life, and how daily interactions can spark joy, purpose, and connection. Participants seeking to embed person-centred values into their local care delivery and workforce development will take away a replicable model for their own care group, service or community.