Arts & Older People 2026 – Community, creativity and craic!
We’re sad to have come to the end of our current Arts & Older People workshops programme, supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Over 20 weeks, our “Then, Now & Could Be” sessions blended nostalgia, creative skill-building, and community to help combat isolation and loneliness, and support better mental health and wellbeing for older adults in Belfast.
Guided by artist facilitators Cony Ortiz and Isabel Duffy, the workshops celebrated Belfast heritage, art and architecture. We looked at iconic buildings in our city like Floral Hall, Robinson & Cleaver and the Strand Cinema. We asked participants to remember how those buildings and venues were, think about them in the present, and re-imagine them for the future.
We explored Belfast’s legacy of creative industry, with sign-printing and weaving activities. Every week our participants tried different hands-on techniques, including freehand drawing, paper block cutouts, flax and wool weaving, water-soluble graphite, carbon tracing, mosaic templates, tote bag design, and cellophane suncatchers.
Sessions quickly became a lively social hub. Visual slideshows and tactile objects like raw flax helped to sparked conversation, storytelling and shared memories. We even had the occasional sing-along to songs like “Tell Me Ma“!
Workshops were great fun and very creative!
Big thanks to our amazing participants!
We’re going to miss the Tuesday sessions! Please come back and visit us again soon!
| JOJO | SELINA | MARGARET |
| KATE | MARY | ANNE |
| PATRICK | SAM | IRENE |
| FRANKIE | HENRY | PAULA |
| MEG | MICHELLE | KATIE |
| TIN | BERNADETTE | ROISIN |
Floral Hall, Wilmont House, sing-songs!
About the Arts & Older Programme
The Arts and Older People Programme is a pioneering initiative, established by the Arts Council in 2010. It tackles loneliness and promotes positive mental health and wellbeing among older people through participation in professionally-led arts activities. The programme is supported by the National Lottery and the Public Health Agency.
Golden Thread Gallery is supported by:
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