A THEATRE trust has been awarded more than £3,500 to help improve the health and well-being of the elderly community.
The Albany Theatre Trust has received a grant of £3,595 from the Heart of England Community Foundation to hold theatre workshops at care homes in the city.
The funds awarded to the trust will go towards paying for a specialist facilitator from the Belgrade Theatre to host the workshops, which will promote well-being and encourage creativity.
Catherine Groom of the Albany Theatre Trust said: “We are always looking at ways to promote health and well-being and take theatre out into the community.
“Coventry statistically has a young population and people can often forget about the older generation, which is why we wanted to launch a project to benefit them.
“We have done something similar at one of the larger care homes in Coventry, however this time we wanted to work with a number of smaller care homes which may otherwise not have an opportunity to experience something like this.
Catherine added the workshops will consist of a variety-style performance, led by a specialist facilitator who has experience in working with people with a variety of conditions, such as dementia.
The trust is also looking to invite participants to perform in the Albany Theatre’s east wing which is being transformed into an arts space.
Heart of England Community Foundation, a grant-making charity, has awarded £1.6 million to projects and organisations across Coventry, Warwickshire, the Black Country, Birmingham and Solihull during the last year.
Tina Costello, CEO of the foundation, said: “Over the last year we have been able to award an incredible amount of funding to some truly amazing projects making a real difference at grassroots level.
“Going forward we will continue to distribute funding where it is needed the most in communities across the region, and we look forward to working with more organisations like the Albany Theatre Trust in the future.”
