This report aims to revisit and update the work done for the 2012 Baring Foundation publication Digital Arts and Older People. It explores developments since 2012 in the field of artists working with older people using creative
technology, and showcases ten exciting and inspiring new case studies.
The report begins by briefly summarising the 2012 paper, which sought to answer the question what is distinctive about working with older people using creative
technology? That report:
'¢ drew a distinction between the use of technology as a tool and as a medium,
'¢ discussed some of the issues that artists seek to challenge and explore through
using digital arts with older people,
'¢ looked at the particular forms of participatory arts practice that are often
facilitated by creative technology,
'¢ discussed the particular communities to whom different forms of digital arts
can be well suited, and
'¢ examined the limitations and disadvantages to the use of creative technology
with older people.
Drawing on a new set of interviews and a literature review ' both conducted in the spring and summer of 2015, the report then considers some of the new and additional benefits that artists today ascribe to the use of creative technology with older people. It notes that scale is an increasingly important rationale for the use of digital tools and media with older people ' both because they can facilitating greater self-directed activity and they provide opportunities for
remote viewing of live arts events from non-traditional settings such as day
centres and care homes. Another feature of creative technologies that artists have become particularly enthusiastic about since 2012 is the ease with which
they can facilitate personalised creative opportunities that fit into a 'personcentred' approach to care.
