Cultural Strategies to Help the Elderly Achieve Personal

Cultural Strategies to improve Elderly’s
Empowerment and Leadership
Mr Olivier Voyer
(1927-2012)
Mr. Narcisse Rathé
(1923-2012)
Gabrielle Desbiens, Student, Master in regional studies and Cultural worker
Danielle Maltais, Ph. D. professor, Social work, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi
Brief history of culture as
an inclusive strategy
• Culture as «the arts and culture»
(museums, modern arts galeries, short
films, etc.)
• Malraux (1960): Democratize the culture
• Is participation to cultural activities a
way to increase identity, to developp a
social cohesion and to lead seniors to
self empowerment and leadership?
Cultural strategy:
Quebec’s cultural mediation
• Quebec’s definition of cultural mediation
– An encounter
– Inclusive as a participative and/or co-creative
process
– Possible by partnerships
• Appropriation of the arts and culture by the
citizens
• Respect everyone’s own role (artist, social
worker, coordinator, etc.)
• Gives tools to understand, to appropriate and to
become autonomous into participating in the
cultural activities/community
How cultural strategies improve
leadership and empowerment?
• Everyone is born with a potential of
creativity
• Losing it is the sum of being not
stimulate to create
• Learning to create takes time
• It leads to self confidence and
empowerment
• 2 examples:
– Modern art history workshops for seniors
Modern art history
workshops for seniors
• 12 seniors (2 men, 10 ladies)
• 1 art history collegial teacher
• 50$ (40€) for the first 20 hours of the autumn
2011 workshop (as guinea pigs)
• 2 cultural activities
• They asked for more!
• 125$ (96€) for the 20 hours of winter 2012
workshop (covers the teacher’s retribution)
• Partnership of an autonomous artist center
(Espace Virtuel) and the cultural mediation
programme of The City of Saguenay (Éveille
Saguenay’s Seniors’ TV
A project by the City of Saguenay, a study by my collegues Danielle Maltais and Véronique
Gauthier (UQAC).
A picture is worth a thounsand words…
So let’s watch!
And then, I’ll explain the process of this great project!
The goals of the project
• Consider and value the individual and collective
knowledge of senior citizens.
• Reduce social inequalities while promoting the
empowerment of participants.
• Promote the participation of seniors in cultural
activities by allowing them to express
themselves and taking part in the active life of
the community.
The elders
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24 participants
16 women and 8 men.
Age: from 56 to 98 years old.
12 frail seniors
13 widows and widowers or living by theirselves
All retired
The TV serie
To be made :
• 6 shows of 28 minutes each presenting the individual
projetc of every senior. Thos 6 shows were to be
presented at community canal VOX.
• The seniors were backed by various actors including a
cultural mediator, a directord, volunteers and a local TV
crew.
The process
• Introductory workshops in the process of
accomplishing a TV show
• Technical support team
• Great volunteers
• 3 generations
• 3 (very) different groups
Results
Project impact on the elderly:
• of self-esteem, pride, confidence
• of anxiety
• Rediscovery of their capabilities
• Break isolation
• their freedom expression
• Break down prejudices
• Develop interest for new activities
«I had qualities that I
did not think ... it
introduced me to
other people ... Well I
think the strength of
this program is to plan
activities for seniors,
say they are not
inactive …»
LEARN / CREATE / PARTICIPATE
Cultural mediators volunteering brigade
(in progress)
• Transforms seniors from cultural spectators to
actors
• Continue their learning about different culture
disciplines
• Help them in creating their own activities
(Éveille ma culture as a support)
• Give them their place, improve their
participation
• Intergenerationnal (university students, young
cultural workers and seniors)
References
•A.L. Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn (1952). Culture, a critical review of concept and definitions,
Vintage Book, Random House, New York, 435.
•Carbonneau, Hélène (2012). Bénévolats nouveaux, approches nouvelles, Observatoire
québécois du loisir, vol. 9, no 12, pages 1 - 5.
•Caune, Jean (2006). La démocratisation culturelle, Une médiation à bout de souffle, Presses de
l’Université de Grenoble, Grenoble, 206 pages.
•Coudin, Geneviève et Béatrice Beaufils (1997). »Les représentations relatives aux personnes
âgées», Vieillissement et âge, no 21, décembre 1997, pages XII - XIV.
•Deriaz, Madeline (2011). Des aînés à la découverte du monde des arts visuels explorent leur
potentiel créatif, Gérontofile, Vol. 24, no. 3, été 2002 p. 29-34.
•De Reymaeker, Baptise (2011). Affilier, rendre, émanciper. Ce que peut faire l’art au social,
Dossier 70, no 70, pp. 5-10.
•Fontan, Jean-Marc et Eva Quintas (dir.) (2007). Cahiers de l’action culturelle. Regards croisés
sur la médiation culturelle, LARC, UQÀM, Volume 6, no. 2, décembre 2007, 40 pages.
•Jacob, Louis (2012). «Mesures et démesures. Les leçons de l’évaluation.» La médiation
culturelle. Le sens des mots, l’essence des pratiques, Presses de l’Université du Québec,
Québec, pages 79 - 101., Automne 1999, no. 75-001-XPF, pages 9 - 20.
•Lafortune, Jean-Marie (dir.) (2012). La médiation culturelle. Le sens des mots, l’essence des
pratiques, Presses de l’Université du Québec, Québec, 222 pages.
•Thibault, André (2012). Sommaire de l’enquête sur les pratiques en loisir des 50 ans et plus,
Observatoire québécois du loisir, vol. 9, no 14, pages 1 - 4.
•Tylor, Edward. 1920 [1871]. Primitive Culture. New York: J.P. Putnam’s Sons.
•Umea Kummun. Cultural activities for seniors. Culture and health: a summary of a descriptive
report.
Many thanks for your attention!
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Time for questions and comments!