Background

Since the Labour Government came to power in 1997, there has been increasing interest in the potential of arts and cultural activities to improve people’s lives and to contribute to a range of social policy objectives, leading to significant levels of investment in this sector (see DCMS 1999). There has been a particular interest in promoting the benefits of arts and cultural activities to older people, as they are commonly seen as being at risk of social exclusion (SEU 2006). Against this background, this doctoral research study seeks to contribute to debates around the meanings that older people attach to their active participation in collective arts activities.

The objectives of the research are – from the perspective of older people:

• To explore people’s engagement with collective arts activities during their life course;
• To identify the factors (e.g. age, cohort, gender, ethnicity, health and social class) that may impact upon people’s engagement in collective arts activities;
• To investigate how involvement in different types of activities and with different art forms may shape the meanings that people attach to their experiences;
• To explore the relationship between involvement in collective arts activities and self-identity throughout people’s lives;
• To investigate the relationship between individual arts participation and participation in collective arts activities during the life course; and
• To help practitioners and policy makers to better understand the part that collective arts activities may play in the lives of older people.

Methodology

Participants are being recruited in a small case study town in the Midlands, through making direct contact with groups (for example choirs, dancing, amateur dramatics and arts and crafts groups) that are based in the town. A range of qualitative approaches are being used to address the study’s research questions. These include:

• In-depth interviews with people aged 60 and over who have been involved (or are currently involved) in group arts activities, in which they are asked to discuss their involvement in arts activities throughout their life course and the meanings they attach to it; and
• Informal observation of the group arts activities.

Preliminary findings: a case study 

I am currently in the second year of the study and undertaking the main period of fieldwork. I present here some of my initial analysis from one of my first interviews. I have chosen to focus upon this case study because the interviewee reflected on his arts participation in a very in-depth way. Moreover, the fact that he is actually in the process of adapting to retired life, offers valuable insights.

Derek* is 60 years old. He has recently retired from an office job, is married and has two grown up sons. He is a local preacher in the Methodist church, attends University of the Third Age (U3A) groups in photography and bird-watching and has been a member of a male voice choir in the town for around 17 years. Several themes emerged from the interview:

Childhood Factors and Self-Identity: As a child, not only did Derek study music as a compulsory subject at his grammar school, but he was also influenced by his family’s cultural traditions that involved musical get-togethers and sing-songs:

…my mother tells me that they all used to gather round the piano on a Sunday afternoon at me great-grandma’s like, y’know and have a sing-song and people used to come in off the street and have four-part harmonies and ladies coming in and blokes coming in and they used to have a right old sing-song in the afternoon. So I think I’ve got some of that tradition.

His love of music is a key element of Derek’s self-identity, and he describes the way in which it has a powerful effect on his emotions:

I suppose I’ve had an interest in music all my life and that’s been the major part of- music is the one thing that can make me laugh and cry. You know, some music moves me so much like- it literally moves me to tears.

Derek made strong links between his music and his Christian faith. He referred to the church as having been an influence throughout his life; he became a committed Christian through his experiences as a member of a Methodist church choir, and he also described how he continued to learn more about his faith through the words of the songs. His music and his preaching are also linked by elements of performance – which Derek finds exhilarating:

I don’t mind performing, you know- I love it. There’s a certain element of buzz for me in it you know - it’s a buzz when I’ve done it. It takes me a little while to come down after the concert that we do at the [large theatre venue] like for instance you know. When I preach I’m as nervous as hell before I start and then it takes me a little while to come down afterwards with the adrenaline buzz like you know.

Community Engagement: In considering the extent to which his geographical location impacts on his participation, Derek’s account reflects his positive perceptions of the area in which he lives:

There are male voice choirs all over the place but because of the community that we’re in people tell you about things and get you involved in things that you might not otherwise know about if you lived in other places…

He makes it clear that the social aspects of participation are very important to him, and expresses concern that some of the group activities that he enjoys may be declining in popularity:

…a lot of the singing came from the mines and since the demise of the mines it seems that everything is, you know- people haven’t got time to sing any more. There’s no hunger for involvement.

He also refers to the fact that there is no longer a church choir at his local church as the ageing choristers became unable to continue.

Adaptation to Retirement : Derek’s interest in the arts has increased in later life. His increasing involvement with the arts appear to stem from a feeling that – after a life so far spent in pursuit of energetic outdoor activities, he needs to begin planning for when he is no longer able to lead such a life by developing interests in alternative pastimes:

I’ve always been a do-er. I’ve always wanted to get out in the hills- walking, climbing…Making use of time, rather than visiting art galleries, sitting reading. More- as I’m getting a little bit older I’m realising I’ve got to slow down a little bit and I’ve got to fill my time somehow. Art, music, reading- to a certain extent- have got to fill more of me time, because I’m going to become less able to get out and do all of the time.

In a similar way, Derek also sees his increasing engagement with the wider community of the town as being a way of adapting to his retirement, especially as his job had been based elsewhere. Underpinning his attitudes to adaptation is Derek’s clear and strong commitment to his own personal development.

Implications for my research 

It is important to recognise that Derek is only just old enough to be a part of this study, and his extensive community involvement will contrast with the social exclusion of some other research participants. However, his account has provided valuable data and raised a number of potentially key questions to take forward in the research. It has shown the ways in which the arts (particularly music) have contributed to Derek’s self-identity, and highlighted the potentially key role of early childhood experiences both at home and at school. It has also revealed the relationship between Derek’s individual participation (and the meanings that he attaches to this) and his group participation, and this led us to the issue of changing cultural traditions, which has potential implications for future cohorts. Derek’s account also places his involvement in certain local ‘communities of interest’ within the wider context of his engagement with the community of the town as a whole. This has raised some key issues around the ways in which the process of adapting to retirement has impacted both on Derek’s engagement in arts activities and his involvement in the town in which he lives – in other words, his social capital. This in turn leads to a range of questions for further reflection. Do we need social capital more when we have to adapt to retirement? To what extent is Derek’s process of adapting, with its emphasis on increasing levels of community involvement, assisted by his existing strong social networks through church and choir? To what extent is it assisted by the strong sense of self-identity or by the commitment to personal development? Such questions are thus helping to inform the on-going research.  

Acknowledgements

The research is being funded by an RAE investment studentship from Keele University and supervised by Prof Thomas Scharf and Prof Miriam Bernard, both of the Centre for Social Gerontology, Research Institute for Life Course Studies, Keele University

References

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (1999) National strategy for neighbourhood renewal : Policy Action Team Audit: Report of the Policy Action Team 10: The contribution of Sport and the Arts. [Internet] London, Department for Culture Music and Sport. Available from: <http://www.socialexclusion.gov.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=216> [Accessed 12 July 2006]

Social Exclusion Unit (2006) A Sure Start to Later Life: Ending Inequalities for Older People. London, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Available from: <http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/seu/downloaddoc7b5f.pdf?id=797> [Accessed 7 November 2007]

* Pseudonym