Ambition for

AgeingCulture Champions

• About AfA

• About social isolation

• Great Place GM

• Cultural activity and AfA

• Technical information and advice for bidders

Ambition For Ageing

• Ambition for Ageing reduces social isolation

amongst older people through the development

of age friendly communities

Ambition For Ageing

Ageing Better

• AfA is part of the Big Lottery Fund’s “Ageing Better”

programme

• £80m to develop learning at scale on approaches to

reducing social isolation for older people

• 14 partnerships nationally – GM the largest

partnership with £10m

• Focus on asset based approaches

• Test and learn methodology

Ambition for Ageing

• Partnership between GMCVO, GMCA, MICRA at

UoM, MACC, LGBT Foundation

• £10.2m over 5 years – started April 15

• Developing 24 Age Friendly Neighbourhoods in 8 LAs

(approx. £50k/year for each place)

• Staffing support and funding for small (<£2k) projects

• Older people’s network to generate voice

• Equalities Board to explore inequalities

• Scaled programmes of £2.5m starting April 17

Social Isolation and Loneliness

• Loneliness is a lack of contentment with relationships

• Feelings of loneliness are a sign your psychological systems are working

• Poor expectations of later life can influence life satisfaction & loneliness

• Isolation is an objective lack of human contact

• Social isolation is largely a result of marginalisation and inequality

• About 8% of people over 65 are often or always lonely

• About 92% of people over 65 are not chronically lonely

• About 17% of people over 65 have less than weekly

contact with family or friends

• Only 2% of people are lonely and isolated by these

measures

• About ¾ of people who are chronically lonely see

family and friends at least weekly

• Lonely and alone are not the same

Prevalence

Who is at risk from isolation

• Evidence suggest that isolation interacts with other

vulnerabilities and especially within marginalised

groups.

o BME communities

o LGBT people

o People over 75

o People with psychological vulnerabilities (eg social

anxiety, depression)

o People with limiting conditions/disabled people

o People in poverty

o Carers

Community risk factors

• Presence of physical/cultural barriers

• Population change and neighbourhood turnover

• Crime and feeling of unsafety

• Living in a deprived urban environment

• Poor urban design and planning policies

• Insufficient access to resources (e.g. public transport, information)

• Age-segregated living

• Low level of place attachment

• Lack of opportunities for participation

What works

• Group approaches work better than 1-2-1

• A spectrum of approaches can help reduce isolation:

o Interacting with friends and neighbours

o Walking in the neighbourhood

o Using public spaces

o Volunteering

o Joining an association

o Political involvement

o Activism

• We develop learning

• Reduce social isolation

• Develop age friendly communities

• Influence GM

Summary

A step-change in collaborative working in order that arts,

culture and heritage contribute more to meeting local social

and economic objectives.

Achieving a more sustainable cultural sector that can

demonstrate the value of investment in culture on the

economic prosperity and health and wellbeing of GM

residents.

Great Place: Stronger Together

A more sustainable sector recognised as

essential to meeting CA and district priorities

Opportunity. Workforce diversity

Sustainability through

partnership

Robust evidence and

compelling stories

Right skills, Right

people

Continued GMCA

Investment in culture

Our vision is to make Greater Manchester one of the best

places to grow up, get on and grow old.

Our priorities are:

• To become the first age-friendly city region in the country

• To be a global centre of excellence for ageing: pioneering

research, technology and new ideas

• To increase economic participation amongst the over-50s

Ageing Well

Much of the work to encourage and support older people to

engage with culture is driven by the health, social and

wellbeing outcomes. There are several long-term

partnerships between arts, health and social care

organisations. We will build on these, but also acknowledge

that later life and everyday creativity, the production of new

art and cultural experiences by older people is an end in

itself, enriching life and community. We will draw upon both

the lived experience of older people and some of the most

creative and imaginative writers, artists and performers

living and working today to tell a different story about

ageing.

Greater Manchester Age Friendly Strategy

• We have funded a range of small scale cultural

activities in our neighbourhood work

• Some of this has been with large cultural organisations

but much has been grassroots activity

• Many local projects have cultural elements but have

other objectives – eg engagement events

• Recently commissioned a range of media projects with

links to culture

Cultural Activity and AfA

• Will promote engagement in cultural activities

• Fund new activities

• Will create new opportunities for volunteering in

cultural activities

• Build relationships between communities and cultural

organisations

• Flexibility on what is “volunteering” to suit people and

place

Culture Champions GM

• It’s a one year project so there isn’t the time to have a

long lead in – must hit the ground running

• It can take between 6-18 months to build up trust with

a community you’ve not engaged with before

• Marginalised groups can face additional barriers to

engagement and may need tailored approaches

• Needs to be tailored to place and local cultural

landscape

Our Requirements

• Age 50 to 100+ is a diverse group of people

• The majority of people below the age of 75 reject the

label “old”

• A project must both publicise and personalise

opportunities – “not for people like me”

• Understand and respond to the realities of peoples

lives

• Must do more than provide information about activities

Factors to consider when using

culture to reduce isolation

Culture Champions

• The current Manchester Culture

Champions is aimed at engaging older

people over 50 in arts and culture

• Manchester Programme has a

network of 150 champions

• Opportunities to influence and

participate in culture for older adults

Culture Champions

• Culture Champions in Manchester

has been a great success, as we

grow the programme we hope it

will celebrate the uniqueness in

each new area

• Broaden the Manchester Culture

Champions reach

Culture Champions

• Wide range of older people with a view to broaden the

cultural offer and ensure that a older people have an

opportunity to influence culture across Manchester

and Greater Manchester

The Culture Champions Manager

GM

• My role involves working with a number of areas

across GM

• I will use my experience and links to advice on

training, supporting older volunteers and also building

partnerships and networks between sectors.

Culture Champions have told us...

• We feel more connected

“Its become a way of life, its me getting to know you”

“You do things differently, you meet different people”

• It gives us a voice

“I ended up on the radio, doing broadcasts”

• We learn

“I’m all for new experiences. We’re curious,

nosey..”

• Can manage small payments

• Can support volunteers

• Can evidence ability to deliver from the start

• Can evidence ability to reach into marginalised

communities

• Can implement an ongoing evaluation sensitively and

positively

• In Manchester can build on an existing approach and

broaden reach

Provider requirements

Spending restrictions

A note on how to express track

record

Don’t just list achievements. For any example

given a panel is likely to ask:

• So what?

• Is there proof?

Quality and relevance is better than quantity and

breadth

The experience of staff is an important aspect of

track record

• We want a lead contractor who will be accountable for

other delivery partners

• All partnerships need management

• Think about how organisations will work together and

how boundaries between organisations will be

managed

• Think about the impact of diverse systems (eg

complaints, HR, accounting, recruitment)

Partnerships

• Don’t just say “we have links with” in your bid – this

doesn’t help the panel understand your relationship

• Be specific about the nature of your relationship

• Ensure that if an external organisation is critical to the

delivery of your work that you check that they’re

supportive. We do check this before signing contracts.

• Don’t assume other organisations will support your

work – they may have other issues that are a priority

Working with other

organisations

Led by:

Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary

Organisation

St Thomas Centre

Ardwick Green North

Manchester M12 6FZ

T: 0161 277 1000

W: www.ambitionforageing.org.uk

John HannenProgramme Manager

john.hannen@gmcvo.org.uk