Creative Legacy Program - Training workshop
What surprised me most when I started working in Palliative Care was the energy on the ward. Far from being a slow and quiet place, there is constant movement; the health care team making adjustments and taking measurements, the lunch trolley being rolled around, computers on wheels guarded by a knot of doctors, visitors balancing homemade food on take away coffee cups and curious children falling out of step to see what kind of art you’re making that day.
The momentum of the Creative Legacy Program has been a bit like this over the past few weeks. On the horizon is a health system under great strain and the risk of increasing isolation and institutionalisation of palliative patients. For the many cultures around South-West Sydney, families and friends congregate by the bedside in numbers; swapping stories, sharing food, keeping vigil and holding each other. One visitor at a time and 1.5m of physical distance is a difficult adjustment. All non-essential services, including our own, have been asked to stay away from the hospital leaving behind long, vacant hours and daytime TV. When we heard the news, we were gutted. The foundation of Creative Legacy is human connection. What could we do if we weren’t allowed on site? What would that look like for the patients and the staff?
This year, the Creative Legacy Program had over 40 artists apply for residencies at Liverpool and Camden Hospitals. During our information workshop at Liverpool Library, each table was filled with artists of different ages, genders, cultural backgrounds, areas of Sydney and an impressive range of disciplines. There were musicians, textile makers, film makers, writers, thespians, ceramicists and of course visual artists. Drawn together by a heart for community art and the pursuit of excellence in their craft, our candidates almost instantly formed a strong community.
We knew we had to pool our resources and pull together to preserve the program. As a team, we developed strategies to take Creative Legacy online and continue to facilitate storytelling, share art making and produce incredible Legacy pieces. We counted dozens of ways to bring human connection back to the bedsides of the people who need it most.
And it worked! I’m proud to say, that in the face of lockdowns, social distancing and sorting the essential from the non-essential, Creative Legacy has won the support of the Dry July Foundation and executive members of Liverpool and Camden Hospitals. The program will look different but feel familiar as we all adjust to a new sense of community.
We have now engaged 10 Artists-in-Residence and commissioned 9 others to create work that documents the experience of health care staff during the COVID-19 crisis. In the midst of the pandemic, the health community is supporting the arts community to support patient wellbeing and connection. As you can imagine, we’re still in celebration mode, but the horizon hasn’t shifted and there’s a lot of work to be done. I can’t wait to introduce you to our team and share the effects this new kind of creative energy will bring to the ward in the coming months.
Creative Legacy29 April 2020