Shetland Arts:
Supporting a community through lockdown
Shetland Arts works across a wide range of activities, ranging from cinema, live music, dance and theatre to youth workshops and arts sessions in local care homes, with a broad mission to “place the arts at the heart of Shetland, to educate, promote, support and develop the practice and enjoyment of the arts by all”.
When lockdown hit in March 2020, the organisation initially prioritised getting as much activity as possible straight online, then took a moment to consider how each of their strands could reach the community as effectively as possible.
Discover the different ways they kept their community creative.
One of the strands they felt determined to continue were their Wellbeing activities, which they felt were both vitally important and perhaps some of their most invisible.
They knew that supporting the mental health of their community was of the utmost important, and so they were committed to offering as full a range of activities as possible, through Zoom, Facebook Live and video.
Shetland knitting is internationally renowned, and during the pandemic, Shetland Arts reached out across the world with Mindful Makkin on Zoom.
They welcomed local, national, and international knitters into their free virtual knitting group – practicing knitting as a form of relaxation and mindfulness, as well as community, when knitting groups across the world had shut down due to COVID.
The classes finished in August, having run throughout the pandemic on a Wednesday lunchtime, bringing together a local and multinational group who have now formed their own Zoom group to continue over the summer.
The classes focused on a simple knitting project every week, something the participants could usually finish within the session, these have varied from ‘peerie croft houses’ to patchwork style squares.
Image: courtesy of Shetland Arts
Image: courtesy of Shetland Arts
The focus was on relaxation and using knitting as a method of practicing mindfulness. Participants were guided through the project, with the tutor supporting those who may be unsure of the techniques as needed and encouraging them to slow down and appreciate the creative process.
Mindful Makkin participants said…
“These classes have made all the difference to my mental health during lockdown, I live alone, my family aren’t on Shetland and my usual craft classes have all been cancelled. Mindful Makkin is the highlight of my week and it’s free, so I don’t even need to worry about the cost.”
“I looked forward to them each week, and tomorrow will feel really odd not meeting up with my new online friends across the world. What an amazing community this programme has created. Thank you so much.”
“Well, that was just lovely! Thank you. I have already signed up for the next one, and am looking forward to it already.”
Arts in care
While Shetland Arts would usually have creative practitioners out in supported living and care homes across Shetland, sadly these were the first things to shut down. Thanks to extra support from the SCVO Wellbeing Fund during lockdown, they were able to support local creative practitioners and filmmakers to continue to bring their work into the centres remotely.
Arts activity packages were posted to each care home in Shetland, with enough for every resident to take part. These packages featured a variety of craft materials and instructions for activities that could be varied appropriate to participants' skill set and ability. These were accompanied by short videos introducing and supporting the craft projects, such as making paper boats, or learning more about the Shetland dialect.
Shetland Arts were nominated for the 2020 Achates Philanthropy Prize for their Arts in Care work.
Keiba Clubb, local creative practitioner said…
“It was a real joy to be asked to take part in the Wellbeing Fund project.
I had been running Arts in Care sessions in the Care Homes prior to Lockdown and had thought often of the residents and the staff and of how they would be coping with the Covid restrictions.
I decided to try and bring them colour and texture through fabric and to bring them ‘outside’ with me so designed beach and landscape themed activities and filmed the activities outside.”
Christmas can be an especially lonely time for those in care homes. Later in the year they sent out more packs for Christmas crafting, allowing them to reach 144 residents, across the twelve care settings.
Images: courtesy of Shetland Arts
Jackie Moar of Wastview Care Centre said…
“Thank you so much for the pom-pom kits, they are great and have nearly all been made...it’s been good to have something different to work on.
Hope there is funding for more kits as they are great, and we really appreciate you taking the thought and time to make them up.”
Wellbeing Choir
Shetland Arts also have a Wellbeing Choir, which gained momentum on Facebook Live through 2020.
By the time December arrived, it had attracted participants singing along not only locally, but from as far afield as the United States and Canada, joining together to sing a mix of traditional carols and popular Christmas songs.
Under 5s
Another part of the community that were really impacted by lockdown were the very young.
Shetland Arts partnered with Shetland Library to offer weekly story session for under 5s, first on social media with stories read at home by Shetland Arts staff, and local creative practitioners and then once our venues had reopened, socially distanced in our auditorium with the library staff.
Toddler groups across the islands were closed for a long time also. Once again, they took advantage of their auditorium space to partner with the Bruce Family Centre in Lerwick, offering movement and play sessions for under 5s, where they could do some much needed playing and socialising with other preschool children, something that was notably missing from their lives during the pandemic.
Together these projects reached participants across the isles who were isolated in one way of another through the pandemic or through their health.
They connected with hundreds of pre-school children and every care home resident in the isles, as well as many in the middle, both on Shetland and across the world.
Shetland Arts has always had the challenge of reaching very remote communities, or those who are unable to attend in person due to health or extreme winter weather, however, the increase in digital literacy over the past 18 months has opened up new opportunities to explore moving forward with a blended model in these areas of work.