‘Exploring Care Aesthetics & The Art of Care in Arts & Wellbeing Services' - Resources

Delivered in partnership with the Flourishing Lives Advisory Group (FLAG) and Professor James Thompson, the workshop explored ‘care aesthetics and the art of care’.

James spoke about his work on the aesthetics of care particularly focused on work with older people living with dementia. He outlined what ‘care aesthetics’ refers to – explaining how it focuses on the sensory, attentive practices of carers and the responses of those for whom they care. The idea is that a care experience can be examined for the crafted practices that make it happen – and by attending to the qualities of touch, movement of bodies, the use of tempo and materials that create care, we can learn more about its quality.

• You can access a ‘Care Aesthetics Resource sheet’ here, with many thanks again to James for kindly collating and sharing these resources.

Huge thanks again to Professor James Thompson for sharing his knowledge and expertise, and for all of his invaluable help in delivering the workshop. We are also very grateful to the members of our Flourishing Lives Advisory Group (FLAG) for all of their help in bringing the session together.

About Professor James Thompson:
James Thompson is Professor of Applied Theatre at the University of Manchester and co-Director of The Care Lab. He has written widely on applied theatre and now researches care aesthetics applied to dementia and other areas of social care. He is editor of the Routledge Studies in Care Aesthetics series and his book Care Aesthetics: for Artful Care and Careful Art was published in 2022.