I was a Project Assistant under Ms Chang Mei Yee for her
second reminiscence drama project with seniors from St. Joseph's Home, Facing the Sunrise. My role involved: being a part of the sessions;
managing volunteers and curating the sessions on social media platforms (Facebook
and Instagram).
Image retrieved from Reminiscence Theatre Facebook page.
BACKGROUND
Funded by the WeCare Arts Fund, Facing the Sunrise was a two-phase project. The first phase was conducted by Ms Chang with 15 seniors from St. Joseph’s Home. Volunteers,
and myself, had discussions with the seniors using props that were either rented or from
St. Joseph’s Home’s collection. At times, we were also en-roled together with
the seniors to be a part of the improvised stories; Dramatic points were
introduced and seniors took charge of how the story continued.
The second-phase of the project was conducted by St. Joseph's Home's Occupational Therapist. She had observed all sessions in the first phase of the project. In the second phase of the project, the occupational therapist conducted her own 8-sessions with Ms Chang observing and providing feedback. As a project assistant, I stayed on to help out and observe sessions. This second phase was not documented online.
A clip of a session from the pilot run, Here and Now, at St.
Joseph’s Home was produced. The full video can be accessed on the Facebook page. An excerpt of it on Instagram can be viewed here:
Project Here and Now has come to an end for now. It is m made possible by a committed team of artist, staff from St. Joseph's Home, volunteers and the WeCare Arts Fund. Here's a look at our final session! Looking forward to bring you more projects in future. 🤗💯 (FULL VIDEO LINK IN BIO!) #reminiscencetheatre #singapore #arts #seniorswithdementia #stjosephshome #wecareartsfund #hereandnow2018
DOCUMENTATION
I took, consolidated and edited pictures to document the sessions.
Approved pictures were uploaded onto social media platforms like the project’s
Facebook page and Instagram. Some of the posts that I have curated are embedded below:
As seen above, one of the subsequent sessions also included us renting from a vintage shop, By My Old School. Upon agreement, they were mentioned in our social media documentations too.
LEARNING POINTS
Facing the Sunrise used more vintage props to begin the process (as compared to
Positioning (定位)). As
such, it was really insightful to see how the tangible objects and images from
the past sparked off stories and contributions from the seniors. Although the project
was led by Ms Chang in both English and Mandarin, I was also surprised to find out
how Malay was also another popular language the seniors liked to use.
This was my first time doing a project with a Home. One of Facing
the Sunrise’s objectives was to train one of the staffs in St. Joseph’s Home to
carry out reminiscence drama sessions independently. Being an occupational therapist, she was familiar with the residents and equipped with knowledge about the space and the residents. Her approach to the sessions were refreshing.
It ranged from the little things like having reality-orientation questions (like what day it is, which session it was) to more adventurous warm-up activities (like matching-pairs; and even a game involving a parachute). There were also more ambitious strides for example wheeling up a Television to set up a "cinema" for the drama or buying herbs in a session about alternative medicine. Not only did these sessions give me the experience of
working with the Home, but it also showed me how the allied healthcare professions could
enrich arts experiences.
Hearing how the seniors looked forward to our sessions, seeing
how the seniors starting to take initiatives in our improvisations and how they
referenced previous sessions made me wonder about the impact our sessions had
on the seniors. How could we acknowledge it? How can these be documented and/or evaluated?