Carers Creatively Taking Time To Explore Our Landscapes Through Photos
To celebrate Carers Week (5 – 11 June 2023) North Lanarkshire Council Arts Development Team have produced a Photo eBook of nature photography which was created by BAME carers groups over the past year as part of the Art is Everywhere project, in partnership with Lanarkshire Carers.
We started off meeting these community members online to discuss their experiences then they were sent a self-care pack with lip balm, hot choc sachet, notepad pen and candle. Included in the pack, was a scenic photo hunt adventure to capture pictures when they were out walking. We thought this would be a nice touch as everyone in the original meetings commented on how much they loved walking in Scotland – the scenery, therapeutic benefits and safe spaces.
Our North Lanarkshire Council Arts Development Team Officer, who we work closely with in Art is Everywhere, asked community to email her photos if they liked the resource.
No one replied.
Then, a couple of months later, our Health Improvement colleague called to say she’d received over 150 photos.
What could we do with them?
We engaged an online content creator to make an ebook to coincide with the launch of carers week in June 2023. Everyone was delighted. We applied for funding to deliver an in-person event in October to celebrate its launch with food and creative offerings.
Other North Lanarkshire Council departments have now come forward to ask if they can use the ebook as an example of good practice at their conferences.
A true example of organic, creative co-production in action!
You can read the ebook here: We Care – North Lanarkshire Council (culturenl.co.uk)
Photo by Ruth Dacre Design on Unsplash.