On Thursday 8th September 2022 Alex Barker from AbilityNet visited Leeds to share his insights on how digital tools and resources can support accessibility for people with disabilities.
As someone who uses assistive technology in his daily life Alex can relate to people who face challenges when it comes to using digital equipment. He has over twenty years of experience working with AbilityNet and is passionate about how digital tools can enhance the lives of people with disabilities. Alex shared his own experiences of how assistive technologies have enabled him to study and to flourish in his career.
“This will be so useful for our members.”
Staff member, People Matters
Assistive Technology Training
Alex explained that assistive technologies do not have to be expensive or complicated to use. He showcased some amazing apps which can be downloaded for free and described some accessibility features that are embedded within most digital devices. He explained how relatively cheap and simple hardware like a rollerball mouse or a compact keyboard can make a huge difference to a person with a disability.
Some of Alex’s top accessible resources and tips
Be My Eyes is a free app which connects blind and low-vision people with sighted volunteers and company representatives for visual assistance through a live video call.
Clarospeak is a free reading and writing app with high-quality text-to-speech function. It can be incredibly helpful for people with low literacy skills.
Filter Keys is a Microsoft Accessibility option that you can use to control the keyboard’s Repeat rate and ignore repeated keys. Apple has its own version called Slow Keys. This can be incredibly helpful for people who find it hard to hold down multiple keys.
My Computer, My Way guides offer step-by-step instructions on how to adapt your phone, computer, or tablet to meet an individual’s needs. You can search for a specific need (e.g. making text larger) or filter the guides based on your symptoms (e.g. hand tremor) or condition (e.g. dyslexia).
Virtual Assistants like Siri and Google Assistant allow people to send a text message, set reminders, and even control home appliances using only their voice. These functions can allow people with disabilities to perform simple daily tasks without support.
“This information could be life-changing.”
Staff at the HALO Project, Hamara
Autism and Learning Disabilities Digital Inclusion Network
100% Digital Leeds made the opportunity available to members of the Autism and Learning Disabilities Digital Inclusion Network (ALaDDIN) and, as a result, staff at People Matters, Pyramid of Arts, and Hamara’s HALO Project were able to benefit from Alex’s wealth of knowledge.
ALaDDIN is a network where organisations working in Leeds to support people with learning disabilities and autism meet to share best practice, identify solutions to common barriers, and discuss opportunities to strengthen digital inclusion infrastructure, such as funding and partnership working. The network meets once a month and is supported by a consultation group of people with learning disabilities who inform the discussions.
If you are interested in finding out more about the opportunities available through ALaDDIN please contact nicky@pyramid.org.uk.
AbilityNet
Alex was also interviewed by members of the Employment Project Grant team at Pyramid. This is a team of people with learning disabilities who are working on a film to show employers how they can make their workplaces more inclusive. Alex explained how AbilityNet can work with employers to make adaptations which can help disabled people to thrive in the workplace.
AbilityNet is a pioneering and well-established UK charity that believes the power of digital technology should be available to everyone, regardless of ability or age. The organisation offers free tech support and information for disabled and older people and their website contains a wealth of accessible fact sheets, webinars, and how-to guides. AbilityNet has a team of helpful volunteers citywide who can visit people in their own homes to advise and support them to set up and use the digital tools required to meet their individual needs.
If you are interested in speaking to AbilityNet about the support on offer to people with disabilities, you can contact them at enquiries@abilitynet.org.uk.
Having digital skills, connectivity, confidence, and motivation means prison leavers are better able to succeed in the areas of their lives that make people less likely to reoffend such as finding secure housing, accessing work, and building positive support networks.
Digital inclusion to support the reduction of reoffending
Taking a community and strengths based approach 100% Digital Leeds is working with partners already supporting prisoners, prison leavers, and ex-offenders to embed digital inclusion support into their existing services.
The project is split in to 3 key strands:
Improving in-prison support for improved digital skills, confidence, and motivation for prisoners
Improving the transition between internal and external support for prison leavers
Improving community digital inclusion support for ex-offenders
Improving in-prison support for improved digital skills, confidence, and motivation for prisoners
Due to strict legislation around access to digital devices and connectivity, in many prisons the only real opportunity for prisoners to engage with digital is in an IT learning suite as part of a formal educational environment. Engaging with learning and education is ‘opt in’ and only a fraction of prisoners go down this route during their time in prison. Offering more opportunities to engage with digital outside of a classroom environment allows more prisoners to develop their digital skills and confidence in an environment in which they feel comfortable, and in a context that feels more relevant to their lives.
Expanding access to digital in workshop settings at HMP Wealstun
Mark Acaster from HMP Wealstun has implemented a digital inclusion pilot in the sewing machine repair workshop at the prison. Giving prisoners the opportunity to engage with digital outside of a formal education setting has been effective in building their confidence and improving their transferable digital skills.
“I have really enjoyed improving my IT skills as I know they are going to help me upon release.”
Prisoner in the sewing machine workshop, HMP Wealstun
With support from 100% Digital Leeds Mark has secured new equipment, modernised the stock control system, and opened up more opportunities for prisoners to engage with digital software and hardware.
Introducing more opportunities for prisoners to positively engage with digital
Mark has made several changes to processes within the workshop that allows prisoners more opportunity to engage with digital in a way that is positive and demonstrates the value of digital tools and resources:
Updating software from Windows XP, for which updates had been discontinued, to Windows 10 and Office Suite 2021, allowing prisoners to develop their skills using up to date software
Giving prisoners access to sewing machine parts books in PDF format as an alternative to paper catalogues and demonstrating advanced search functions and ability to zoom in to technical drawings as benefits to using the digital version
Moving ‘Progress In Workshop’ self-appraisal reports from paper to MS Word and supporting prisoners to complete themselves
Teaching prisoners practical keyboard skills that make their work easier such as commonly used keyboard shortcuts
Actively looking for more opportunities to give workers the chance to interact with computing, such as designing workshop signage
The benefits of integrating digital into a work environment
Introducing better and more frequent opportunities to engage with digital in the workshop has benefited prisoners working in the sewing machine workshop:
Prisoners are given the opportunity to engage with digital
Prisoners are learning transferable skills which will give them a better chance of securing employment upon release, and ease the transition into work
Prisoners are engaged and enjoy having more opportunities to develop their digital skills
Prisoners are showing improved digital confidence
Aided by improved IT systems and infrastructure prisoners are able to work more efficiently
Daniel: prisoner case study
When Daniel arrived in the sewing machine workshop he had never used a computer and was very nervous around digital. He has not engaged with any formal IT learning and was not interested in doing so. Being more comfortable in a work environment, Daniel started down a mechanical path repairing sewing machines. He later found he had more of an aptitude for the monitoring and recording side of the workshop which saw him being introduced to using more of the digital systems and processes.
Daniel has learned a lot of transferable digital skills, starting with the basics such as using a mouse and keyboard but soon progressing to more advanced office admin tasks such as:
Booting up and shutting down a computer
Saving files in different formats such as PDF
Inputting and interpreting data
Creating jobs and logging stock
Using workflows
Using Word and Excel
“I was very nervous about ICT when I came in but it has exceeded my expectations and I’ve learned a lot. I wouldn’t have used computers naturally but I enjoy the work that I do now and have found a niche. It’s great because it’s what I’m supposed to know on the outside. Things that seemed too complicated are more simple for me now and I’m able to help others.”
Daniel, HMP Wealstun
Daniel has developed so much that he is now able to independently problem solve and troubleshoot simple IT issues. His newfound confidence has seen Daniel become a Peer Support Mentor within HMP Wealstun, a role where other prisoners are able to come to him for advice and he can be a positive model of the benefits of digital inclusion.
Next Steps
100% Digital Leeds will work with HMP Wealstun to explore further opportunities to embed digital within prisoner work environments. We will deliver a digital inclusion awareness workshop with staff to further understand the digital inclusion needs of this prisoner cohort and the capacity of workshops to introduce digital into their systems and processes in a way that opens up digital access to more prisoners.
Arts in Care Homes Day is an annual event championing, promoting, and encouraging arts engagement in care settings and highlighting the health and wellbeing benefits for all involved. In celebration of Arts in Care Homes Day 2022 the Arts and Culture Digital Inclusion Network has developed an engaging programme of creative workshops open to care providers in Leeds, free of charge.
The programme includes a range of art forms and cultural activities, such as dance, embroidery, music, and local history (there’s even a virtual canal boat ride!), and sessions are suitable to the needs of people being cared for, such as older people, people living with dementia, and people with learning disabilities.
We can help you with the digital bit
While the timetable does include some face-to-face sessions to be delivered in care settings, most of the sessions are delivered remotely via Zoom so multiple care settings can join in at the same time.
Each session description includes details of tech requirements. Anything in brackets isn’t essential but ‘nice to have’. For example, for sessions saying ‘(camera)’, participants can be on camera if your setting has access to a camera, the participants are comfortable being on camera, and your care setting has the relevant permissions, but being on camera isn’t essential to participating.
Most sessions require only a screen and speakers so where residents are joining in as a group the session could be played through a TV. If a resident is joining the session solo they could use a laptop, iPad, or other tablet. Contact 100% Digital Leeds if your care setting needs support.
A rundown of all last week’s sport and a chance to connect with and chat to other sports fans. Please note, this session will be recorded and shared on the AspireCBS website but attendees who do not want to appear in any recording are free to keep their camera off.
AspireCBS provides day services, supported living services, respite, and crisis services to adults with a learning disability and their family carers.
Audience: Adults with learning disabilities
Duration: 90 minutes
Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom
11:00am Be a virtual canal boat skipper with Canal Connections
Members of Canal Connections will be filming a trip along the beautiful Leeds Waterways. Participants will have the chance to communicate with the staff and the skippers and to ask them to take photographs.
Canal Connections explores the opportunities for social regeneration presented through the waterways and its environs by the innovative engagement of individuals, families, communities, and organisations whilst enhancing the built and natural heritage of that environment.
Audience: Anyone receiving care from a care provider
Duration: 120 minutes
Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom
1.15pm Lunchtime Organ Concert with Leeds International Concert Season
An organ recital by Phoebe Tak Man Chow live from Leeds Cathedral. Trained at the Royal College of Music and having held church and cathedral positions in the UK and Ireland, Phoebe is currently Director of Music at All Saints, Orpington, and organ scholar at St Martin-in-the-Fields. The concert will feature: JS Bach – Prelude & Fugue in D, BWV532; Roger Wibberley – Ubi Caritas; René Becker – Sonata No 1: Praeludium Festivum; Prayer; Toccata; Josef Rheinberger – Sonata No 8.
Leeds International Concert Season presents around 200 concerts each year, featuring orchestra, chamber music, brass bands, two series of free lunchtime concerts, and a series of free brass band concerts in parks in the summer.
Audience: Anyone receiving care from a care provider
Duration: 50 minutes
Format: Live concert, delivered remotely via YouTube
Equipment: Speakers (screen)
Booking: No need to book in advance. The YouTube link will appear on the event page on the day of the concert. For support email music@leeds.gov.uk
1:30pm Move it to Music with AspireCBS
A fun and energetic fitness class to lively music. The session can be adapted to all ability levels and attendees can remain seated throughout if preferred. The playlist is chosen by attendees so feel free to email some song suggestions when booking. Please note, this session will be recorded and shared on the AspireCBS website but attendees who do not want to appear in any recording are free to keep their camera off.
AspireCBS provides day services, supported living services, respite, and crisis services to adults with a learning disability and their family carers.
Audience: Adults with learning disabilities
Duration: 90 minutes
Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom
Reminisce your favourite songs and musicians over the years through our fun, inclusive and mindful musical session. Residents will be able to part take in this musical quiz as they listen and sing along to some live much-loved classics sung by one of our musical librarians. The session is inclusive and interactive, giving participants the opportunity to remember their favourite music throughout the decades in a safe and familiar environment as well as listen to live music online.
Leeds Libraries delivers a wide range of leisure, cultural, learning and information services. The library service offers safe, welcoming free and accessible spaces where people can meet, engage, interact, learn, and develop.
Audience: Anyone receiving care from a care provider
Duration: 60 minutes
Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom
An energy-boosting, medium intensity workout that infuses specific exercises for the body and mind with the playfulness of dance. Come as you are, and dive into an inclusive dance community. This class blends 30 minutes of dance cardio with 15 minutes of choreography to upbeat music from around the world.
Ascendance is a charity organisation working in the Dance for Health sector, delivering outstanding participatory programmes, performances & films, based in Leeds, UK.
Audience: Care residents with Parkinson’s, MS, and other neurological conditions
Duration: 45 minutes
Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom
Get a feel for the workshop content by watching this captivating insight into Ascendance’s ‘Dance with Parkinson’s’ community.
2:00pm Hidden Cinemas with Hyde Park Picture House
This talk will encourage people to remember their own favourite cinemas and share their experiences of cinema from years gone by. From much loved local fleapits to the ‘super cinemas’ of the 1920s and 30s, Laura’s illustrated talk will take you on a tour of some of Leeds’ best hidden cinema treasures, using photographs to tell their stories. Before the era of the multiplex cinema began, Leeds used to have many different and unique cinemas. Most of them have now closed for good, but some went on to become bingo halls, tile warehouses, flats, hotels, and even fish and chip shops! Of course, not all of the old cinemas in Leeds have closed their doors. The Hyde Park Picture House, built in 1914, still remains an active part of the city’s film scene. You can also find out more about each cinema we cover in our talk by using our online Leeds cinemas map, www.lostcinemas.co.uk
Established in 1914, the Hyde Park Picture House is one of the UK’s oldest cinemas. Known affectionately as the ‘cosiest cinema in Leeds’, the Picture House screens the very best independent, documentary and artist films from around the world. Their Grade 2 listed building has been closed for a while for some repairs, but will be opening soon with a brand new second screen and new accessible facilities. While they’re getting ready to open, they would like to share our remarkable story with as many people as possible.
Audience: Older people, people living with dementia
Duration: 40 minutes, plus additional time for comments
A celebration of musical theatre, this weekly session includes learning ‘step-by-step’ dance routines to songs from hit musicals and virtual trips to the theatre. Previous sessions have included virtual trips to West End Live, Disneyworld, and an Elton John concert. The session content is led by the regular participants so varies from week to week. Take pot luck or contact Rebecca for more specific details in the week before this session takes place. Please note, this session will be recorded and shared on the AspireCBS website but attendees who do not want to appear in any recording are free to keep their camera off.
AspireCBS provides day services, supported living services, respite, and crisis services to adults with a learning disability and their family carers.
Audience: Adults with learning disabilities
Duration: 90 minutes
Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom
1:30pm Rock & Roll Bingo ‘70’s Hits’ Edition with AspireCBS
Bingo but with music! Attendees have 16 songs on their bingo card. Listen out for your songs and when you have a full house, unmute yourself and shout BINGO as loud as you can. Please download and print your bingo cards.
This online session will introduce you to Puccini’s famous opera ‘La Traviata’ and take you on a journey through the ballrooms of high society in Paris. Led by vocal animateur Marie Claire Breen, this will be a friendly space to learn, sing, have fun, and meet people. If possible, it would be ideal to set the room in a semi-circle and for participants to have some space to move. Care settings may want to provide participants with a party drink, such as a plastic champagne flute of something fizzy, as we’ll be throwing a party just like the opening scene.
Opera North is a national opera company based in Leeds, and is a leading UK arts organisation. Rooted in the North of England, international in outlook, we create extraordinary experiences every day. Opera North believes opera and music is for everyone, and champions diversity in artists, repertoire, and audiences. Opera North Education connects with communities and inspires each generation, aiming to enhance the health and well-being of people in the communities where we work through arts participation and performance.
Audience: Anyone receiving care from a care provider
Duration: 40-50 minutes
Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom
Preparation in advance: Why not dress up for the occasion? Participants could make a bow out of paper to wear in their hair or as a bow tie. Participants could listen to recordings of famous songs from La Traviata ahead of the workshop.
Make a bow-tie in preparation for the workshop
Listen to recordings of famous songs from La Traviata ahead of the workshop.
Thursday 29th September
11:00am Live Music Now
Live Music Now present a live participatory performance featuring Leeds musician Simon Robinson. Join Simon as he plays a wide repertoire of traditional music, ranging from American mountain songs and Old Time Banjo tunes, Blues songs, chants and spirituals, through to British folk songs and sea shanties. He is passionate about facilitating music making in all different settings, and loves a good sing-a-long!
Live Music Now fosters musical lives. You can find their musicians in care homes, schools, healthcare and community settings across the region. Their world-class musicians connect with people experiencing social exclusion or disadvantage, working together to create engaging, interactive live music sessions that meaningfully enhance health and well-being.
Audience: Anyone receiving care from a care provider
Duration: 60 minutes
Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom
Equipment: Screen, speakers (camera, keyboard)
Booking: Email deborah.welch@livemusicnow.org.uk
Get a feel for the workshop by watching this video from musician, Simon Robinson, who will be hosting the session
1:30pm Rock & Roll Bingo ‘Players Picks’ Edition with AspireCBS
Bingo but with music! Attendees have 16 songs on their bingo card. Listen out for your songs and when you have a full house, unmute yourself and shout BINGO as loud as you can. Please download and print your bingo cards.
Start time agreed at booking: Magical Mushroom, Autumn Bunting Party! Embroidery with Leeds Libraries
Discover the Botanical Treasures of Leeds Libraries Special Collection by using iPads to explore stunning rare hand-coloured illustrations of mushrooms and fungi from the eighteenth century. Participants will be able to select an image from the special collections to transfer to a pre-cut flag and decorate using embroidery, trimmings, buttons, and other fabrics and materials. When finished, the flags will be assembled to create a collaborative textile art work for the venue to display and keep. The session is colourful, visual, and tactile with fabrics and ribbons to select, hold, and manipulate. It can be adapted to any abilities with people having the opportunity to sew if they wish or assemble and have the facilitator complete.
The Art Library in Leeds Central Library is the largest and most comprehensive specialist public Art Library in the North of England. Discover a world of creativity in the iconic Art Library, established in 1956.
Audience: Anyone receiving care from a care provider
Duration: 90 minutes
Format: Face-to-face session delivered in the care setting
Participants will take part in a gentle movement and storytelling workshop, with moments of music, games, and playfulness. Participants will assist the practitioner in adding details to stories, finding actions, expressions, and movements to bring different tales to life. The session will be led by the participants’ interests and ability. If you happen to have any percussion instruments please bring them along and join in!
Artlink West Yorkshire is an arts and health charity working with diverse communities in Leeds. Working in a therapeutic and rehabilitative capacity, we have a strong focus on positive mental health and independent living through high quality arts activity delivered by our team of creative facilitators.
Audience: Anyone receiving care from a care provider
Duration: 60 minutes
Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom
Join dance artist Rachel for an upbeat dance session. Sense Art’s dance sessions are for everyone, and whether you prefer to dance seated or standing, options will be given for both. No experience is needed, these sessions are all about having some fun.
Sense is a national disability charity. They believe everyone should be able to take part in life, no matter their disability.
Audience: Older people
Duration: 45 minutes
Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom
A dance class designed for older adults to get moving, enjoy light exercise, and take part in some dancing. Janetta Maxwell takes each session, bringing music that gets toes tapping and faces smiling. The session can be adapted to all ability levels and attendees can remain seated throughout if preferred.
RJC Dance is the leading inclusive Black dance organisation in the North empowering children, young people, and adults through dance, movement and exercise.
Audience: Anyone receiving care from a care provider
Duration: 60 minutes
Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom
Get a feel for the workshop by watching this video showcasing a previous project with the same group at RJC Dance
3:00pm Connecting Stars: Autumn Leaves with Constella OperaBallet
Connecting Stars is an interactive collaborative concert between musicians and ballet dancers.
Constella are the world’s only company dedicated to opera-ballet and create cutting-edge, interdisciplinary performances for today’s audience. Founded by the award-winning composer and conductor Leo Geyer, Constella brings together pioneering musicians, dancers, visual artists, historians, garden designers, architects, poets, and costume-makers.
Audience: Anyone receiving care from a care provider
Duration: 45 minutes
Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom
Get a feel for the workshop by watching this preview from Constella
Anytime
Echome: make music through your movement
Imagine you could play the sound of a piano with a simple movement of your hand? Or the sound of a cello with your knee? Imagine you could create any sound you like – birdsong, sea waves, children laughing – with any part of your body you feel like moving. Welcome to echome! An accessible and intuitive technology that allows you to create any sound with any part of your body. The session will involve a set of simple activities that can be tailored to the participants’ needs and preferences and involve the creation of music and sound out of their movement. The technology involves a set of light wearable sensors that can be worn anywhere on the body and a simple computer interface. Participants can move individually, in pairs, or small groups, and the movement can be as small or as big as they choose. They will be able to select from a variety of music and sounds and work with the ones that appeal to their tastes and/or personal memories. The session aims to make movement fun, facilitate deep listening, and offer opportunities for collaboration between two or more participants.
echome has been developed by academic researchers at the University of Leeds and arts practitioners in collaboration with end users. A recent pilot project with older people suffering from arthritis proved that echome encourages physical activity, offers opportunity for creative expression, and enables sociality and collaboration. As one of the participants said ‘it is as if the music bribes you into doing more than you would normally’.
Audiences: Older people, people with learning disabilities, working age adults
Duration: 60 – 90 minutes
Format: Face-to-face workshop delivered at the care facility
Equipment: none
Booking:via Eventbrite. Time and date will be arranged at booking.
Wellbeing Workshop with Northern Ballet
This 30 minute digital dance workshop uses Northern Ballet productions to inspire gentle movement activity which can be accessed either standing, or whilst sitting down. There are two dance teachers leading the session, one is demonstrating from a standing position, the other from a seated position, so there is always someone to copy. The session covers the basics of good posture, and a safe warm up using ‘plies’ to various dance segments from Northern Ballet productions such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. To top it off, the session is accompanied by a live musician from Northern Ballet’s sinfonia. The session is pre-recorded, so you can pause, rewind, and repeat as you wish.
As the UK’s widest-touring dance company, Northern Ballet aims to share exceptional ballet with a diverse audience and create opportunities for everyone to be inspired by dance. Their Academy and Learning programmes enable people of all ages, means, and abilities to take part in dance activities, developing and nurturing emerging creative talent, training exceptional young dancers, and providing world-class dance facilities at our home in Leeds. They deliver outreach activities in the regional community and across our tours for people with limited access to the arts.
Audience: Anyone receiving care from a care provider
Duration: 30 minutes
Format: Pre-recorded workshop via YouTube
Equipment: Screen, speakers
Booking: View the workshop anytime, no need to book. If you would be interested in partnering with Northern Ballet in the future email learning@northernballet.com
Pre-recorded Wellbeing Workshop from Northern Ballet
Write an original song with Swan Song Project
Swan Song believe a song can live forever, carrying precious memories and providing comfort and joy to listeners. Their songwriters support anyone approaching the end of their life or dealing with a bereavement to write a song, helping with every stage of the process, from finding initial ideas to finishing a recording. The song-writing process can be deeply therapeutic as well as being a lot of fun.
The Swan Song Project gives people planning the end stages of their lives and those surrounding them the opportunity to write and record their own original song. A professional songwriter provides support to guide each person, through finding the initial idea to the completed recording. No previous musical experience or abilities are required.
Audience: Anyone approaching the end of their life or dealing with a bereavement
Duration: Various
Format: Workshops, face-to-face in the care setting or via Zoom
Find out more about Swan Song Project
Purple Patch Arts Daily Activities
While their live programmes were closed due to Covid Purple Patch Arts posted daily activities on their website, in line with weekly themes like storytelling, poetry, and murder mystery. The activities use resources that you should be able to find in a care setting.
Since 2009, Purple Patch Arts has existed to provide innovative and inclusive creative learning opportunities that improve the lives of adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults by expanding their understanding of, and engagement with, the world.
Marks In Time includes lots of free online resources including pre-recorded talks, a virtual tour of their exhibition, fun resources for wine tasting, and a sheet music activity pack. They also offer free loan of Memory Boxes containing original clothing and accessories that can be used as memory prompts and to stimulate conversation.
The M&S Company Archive enables Marks & Spencer to celebrate and utilise its rich heritage for the good of the business, its customers, and the wider community. The Archive preserves, develops and facilitates access to its unique collection and delivers a dynamic programme of public engagement, using the collection to support and inspire the community.
Sharing learning and outcomes
We will close the week with a webinar as part of Leeds Digital Festival. ‘Creative Digital Inclusion in the Care Sector’ will be a first look at the impact of the programme and its success in supporting the arts participation and digital confidence of residents and staff at living and working in care settings. It will also be an opportunity to share best practice and look at what’s next.
Developing the programme
This project aims to support care providers to bring more arts and culture activity into their settings by engaging remotely via digital, and to develop staff digital skills and confidence. Arts and culture organisations will be supported to reach new audiences in care settings, expand their care setting offer, and form lasting partnerships with care providers.
Special thanks to the members of the cross-sector steering group who have developed this programme and, of course, to the arts and culture organisations who have contributed to this amazing programme, all of whom have given their time and resource without the support of funding. You can find out more about the development of this programme on our previous blog.
Leeds Digital Festival returns 19 – 30 September 2022 for a two-week celebration of digital culture. 100% Digital Leeds are hosting and contributing to a number of events that make up the programme. To be among the first to hear about events hosted by 100% Digital Leeds follow us on Eventbrite.
Monday 19th September, 10:00am – 10:30am, Zoom webinar. Book via Eventbrite.
Hosted in partnership with Leeds and Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust, this webinar will showcase an exciting new development which brings together accessible apps and resources that can be used to support people with Learning Disabilities to move more and stay happy and healthy.
100% Digital Leeds has partnered with Local Care Partnerships in Leeds to develop a community-based approach to support digital inclusion for improved health participation, with Digital Health Hubs at the heart of the implementation model. Hosted in partnership with Local Care Partnerships, this webinar is an opportunity to find out more about the model and plans for city-wide implementation, including how partners from across all sectors can get involved.
The 100% Digital Leeds and Leeds Older People’s Forum ‘Transport Connections’ project will explore how utilising bus and taxi apps can best support older people to access transport in the city, combatting social isolation by increasing access to health services and social settings. Hosted in partnership with Leeds Older People’s Forum, this webinar is an opportunity to find out more about the project and plans for increasing access for older people using transport apps.
Digital Inclusion: Age and Dementia Friendly Leeds
100% Digital Leeds has partnered with Leeds Older People’s Forum to develop the Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network, bringing together over 40 organisations to share best practice, foster partnerships, and understand the most inclusive approaches to supporting older people with digital. Hosted in partnership with Leeds Older People’s Forum, this webinar is an opportunity to find out more about the impact of the network and how digital has made a difference to older people’s lives.
Wednesday 28th September, 12.00pm – 12.30pm, Zoom webinar. Book via Eventbrite.
Positive Changes is a group of volunteers with learning disabilities who discuss how they can make life better for people in Leeds. The group is working with Mencap to coproduce videos which teach people different skills and show them activities which can help them to stay healthy and happy. Hosted in partnership with Mencap, this webinar will be an opportunity to hear from Positive Changes members about the project and watch some of the videos they have made.
Hosted in partnership with Mindwell, this panel discussion will see third sector, research and UX/UI industry leaders explore how mindful UX/UI design can help create safer, more inclusive digital spaces that support better mental health.
Hosted by Forum Central, this workshop will provide a summary of what Forum Central, Voluntary Action Leeds and Third Sector Leeds, as key advocates for the sector, feel are the third sector’s needs around digital transformation, in line with what the sector has fed into the strategy to date. 100% Digital Leeds will be part of the expert panel.
This webinar will explore how arts and culture programming can support improved digital skills, confidence, and capability in care homes and other care settings. The webinar will be a first look at the impact of the Leeds Arts In Care Homes Day programme and its success in supporting the arts participation and digital confidence of residents and staff living and working in care settings.
Leeds is one of nine councils awarded funding as part of the Local Government Association (LGA) Digital Pathfinders Programme, designed to support councils seeking to innovate and develop pioneering initiatives to advance digital inclusion, digital connectivity, and cyber security. 100% Digital Leeds have been funded to develop a Community-based Model to Increase Digital Inclusion, and run a series of related workshops with five councils selected by LGA. Interested parties can follow our progress on the project Miro board. The completed model will be published and launched in December this year.
Workshop three: Forming and implementing a plan
The third workshop in the series of four broke down stage three of the community-based model. This session built upon work done in the previous workshops – exploring the digital inclusion barriers faced by a particular community, and potential solutions to overcome them – and focused on turning those identified solutions into an action plan.
We were joined by representatives from Coventry, East Riding of Yorkshire, and Plymouth, councils. These partners, alongside West Berkshire and London Borough of Bexley, are working with us to sense-check the model, ensuring the content is useful for Local Authorities with a different geographical or demographic make up to Leeds, and councils at different points in their digital inclusion journey.
Stage three content and feedback
Stage three – forming and implementing a plan – contains the following steps:
The role of Local Authorities as enablers rather than deliverers
Identifying and securing suitable funding to support capacity for digital inclusion, recognising digital as a key enabler
Making the most of partnerships to maximise resources
The benefits of bringing digital inclusion partners together as networks
Next steps
The fourth and final workshop will take place in September, and will be on ‘Understanding and measuring success’. Following this, the 100% Digital Leeds team will write up the model as it will appear on the Digital Inclusion Toolkit, and this will be shared with partners for review. A final summative evaluation workshop will take place in November prior to the launch of the final finished model in December.
This is a guest blog written by Geraldine Montgomerie, Partnership Manager at The Swan Song Project. Geraldine is a member of the cross-sector steering group behind 100% Digital Leeds’s recently announced digital inclusion and arts participation programme in celebration of Arts in Care Homes Day.
“Please Come Back”: a guest blog from The Swan Song Project
This year marks the fourth Arts in Care Homes Day since it was established in 2019 – and in Leeds we have been sharing good practice every year; bringing together different care providers and arts opportunities and hearing the difference arts can make to not just care home residents, but their families and the staff who support them.
At the Swan Song Project we work with people living with terminal conditions, planning the end of their lives or dealing with bereavement and help them to write their own original songs. The people we work with value having dignity, personal control and choice over their circumstances, feeling connected to other people, taking part in interesting and pleasurable activities. Our songwriting work meets these needs, and the people we work with tell us how proud they are of their songs and how much fun they had during the process. They say that the process has helped them come to terms with their situation and helped them articulate and communicate their feelings in a way they might not otherwise have done.
We have supported people to write songs virtually, enabling us to reach people who are unable to meet us in person.
Geraldine Montgomerie
During the pandemic we have supported people to write songs virtually, enabling us to reach people who are unable to meet us in person including people living anywhere in the UK. We continue to offer a weekly online singing group where we encourage people to relax and breathe as well as learning new skills and gaining confidence in singing. We are joined by people around the world who describe the group as helping them sleep better, feel less tense and generally improving their mood.
We started our project in hospices but as Covid-19 restrictions have lifted we have begun to bring our work into care homes and work with other care providers, celebrating people’s lives, making memories and leaving legacies through making new songs.
There are almost 200 care settings in Leeds, many of which have enjoyed touring theatre productions and opera performances, live concerts and poetry, dance classes and opportunities for craft and even immersive art installations such as changing a care home lounge area into a ‘park’. The benefits of these activities can be significant – for example dance classes have been shown to reduce frailty, increase activity levels and boost wellbeing.
“Despite the range of local expertise and the best efforts of wellbeing and activity coordinators, it can be difficult to provide a daily offer of activities that suit the tastes and specific needs of people needing care.”
Geraldine Montgomerie
Despite the range of local expertise and the best efforts of wellbeing and activity coordinators, it can be difficult to provide a daily offer of activities that suit the tastes and specific needs of people needing care. With staff shortages care providers have limited resources to build relationships with local arts organisations and to finance regular high quality, interactive sessions. Covid-19 is also still presenting challenges, with care providers still closing to visitors with very little notice, so it remains a great time to share how we have learnt to offer online and remote arts activities and to adapt them to better meet people’s needs.
“We have found care settings have been really open to working with technology.”
Geraldine Montgomerie
We are always looking for ways to improve access to our work including continuing to offer online songwriting sessions and singing groups. We have found care settings have been really open to working with technology – whether joining us in online sessions to share memories we associate with key pieces of music from our lives or allowing us to visit in person and connect care home residents and hospice patients to online resources.
In partnership with 100% Digital Leeds and other arts and health organisations, we are working on an Arts in Care Homes Day programme in September 2022 to support care providers to open up opportunities to residents through a mixture of in person and online activities, overcome barriers to accessing online activities and bringing technology into care homes to enhance experiences and build confidence.
We have learned so far that there is a huge appetite to experience and engage with arts and creativity… that with every session we offer in a care setting we are urgently invited to come back.
100% Digital Leeds are looking for arts and culture organisations to submit activity for inclusion in digital arts and culture engagement programming aimed at Leeds care providers in celebration of Arts in Care Homes Day
We are looking to curate a week-long programme of activity taking place between Saturday 24th September (Arts in Care Homes Day) and Saturday 1st October (International Day of Older People), including free interactive workshops in art forms such as song and dance, and performances from arts organisations across the city. Care providers will engage with the programming remotely via digital platforms such as Zoom, Teams, and YouTube. The programme may also include sessions delivered in care settings, but including a digital element.
The project aims to support care providers to bring more arts and culture activity into their settings by engaging remotely via digital, and to develop staff digital skills and confidence. It is hoped that arts and culture organisations will be supported to reach new audiences in care settings, expand their care setting offer, and to form lasting partnerships with care providers.
The programme is already looking exciting, with support from key arts organisations working across the city such as Yorkshire Dance, Opera North, and Ascendance. The final timetable of events will be available for booking by care providers in late summer.
Arts and culture organisations can submit their activities for inclusion in the programme by completing this form by Monday 1st August.
Care providers can request support to access the programme by completing this form at any time until Saturday 1st October
Project background
This project has been developed by a cross-sector steering group made up of people working across the public, cultural, wellbeing, and care sectors. The project is a result of the existing partnership between the Arts and Culture Digital Inclusion Network, Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network, and Leeds Care Delivery Services, which saw development of a series of webinars bringing people together to explore how care settings can benefit from arts and culture online. Find out more about the work being done in Leeds with care settings and/or older people around arts, creativity and culture by reading the recent NAPA report, Arts and Culture in every care home?, celebrating the work of Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network and their Creative Ageing Forum.
“Care home activities for residents have been an area that has particularly benefitted from the 100% Digital Leeds support, and it is enabling them to access a range of digital and virtual activities and improving health and wellbeing outcomes. This real, practical application of digital technology with the support of the team is helping to embed digital inclusion across the care sector in Leeds, with staff becoming more familiar and comfortable using digital technology which is a key step in the preparation for the move to even wider digitisation”
Richard Graham, Commissioning Programme Leader, LCC Care Quality Commission
Project launch
We launched the project on Friday 1st July with a 30-minute webinar which outlines the project, the benefits of partnership, and how organisations can get involved. The video features speakers from 100% Digital Leeds, NAPA, Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network, Pyramid, arts@leeds, and Springfield Care.
Launch webinar
We’re looking for arts and culture organisations to submit their events, activities, and performances to be included in the week-long programme. We’re looking for care providers to take up the opportunity of signing up to programme activities.
“Residents in care settings have embraced any opportunities to take part in creative and cultural opportunities. Feedback surveys indicate that people would love to have access to more activities generally and have been delighted when they have taken part (whether through in-house support to take part in craft activities or interactive Zoom sessions with museums and galleries, libraries, dance organisations, poetry, theatre or other arts activities).”
Catherine, Leeds Care Delivery Service
How arts and culture organisations can take part in the programme
Offering activity via remote access gives arts organisations the opportunity to reach audiences who may find it difficult to access programming delivered in cultural venues due to their reliance on care, difficulty with mobility and, more recently, the need to shield during Covid. Visiting care settings to deliver workshops and performances comes with its own difficulties for arts organisations but Covid has made it near impossible.
Taking part in this programme is an opportunity for arts and culture organisations to develop their offer and trial new approaches for audiences such as older people, people living with dementia, people with learning disabilities, people planning end of life, and people with mental health needs. It is also an opportunity to forge lasting partnerships with care providers such as care homes, day services, supported living services, recovery hubs, hospitals, and hospices.
“During the pandemic we have supported people to write songs virtually, enabling us to reach people who are unable to meet us in person including people living anywhere in the UK. We continue to offer a weekly online singing group where we encourage people to relax and breathe as well as learning new skills and gaining confidence in singing. We are joined by people around the world who describe the group as helping them sleep better, feel less tense and generally improving their mood.”
Geraldine Montgomerie, Partnership Manager, The Swan Song Project
Arts organisations are invited to complete a short expression of interest form to submit activities like workshops or streamed performances to be included in the week-long programme. Details required include a session description, date and time, booking link, and what care providers need to participate. The form will be closed on Monday 1st August.
To be included in the programme activities should take place or be accessible between 24th September and 1st October and should be accessed remotely via digital platforms such Zoom, Teams, and YouTube. We will also accept submission of sessions delivered in care settings but including a digital element, however, face-to-face sessions are at risk of cancellation due to Covid.
To keep the programme as simple for care providers to engage with as possible events must be free at the point of access. We are not able to offer financial support but are happy to support any digital inclusion related funding bids. Organisations are welcome to submit suitable events and activities from existing programming, or pre-recorded content for streaming. We welcome taster sessions designed to showcase existing or future programming, or trial work with new audiences.
Support available to arts and culture organisations
This project has been shaped by the Arts and Culture Digital Inclusion Network and the support of 100% Digital Leeds and network members is available for artists and arts and culture organisations looking to develop their digital offer or adapt their work to be accessible and engaging for different audiences. There is a section on the expression of interest form to request support.
100% Digital Leeds will be publishing a series of blogs over the summer sharing learning and practical tips from Arts and Culture Digital Inclusion Network members and care homes on how to make digital sessions as engaging and accessible as possible. Keep a lookout for these on the 100% Digital Leeds blog.
How care providers can take part in the programme
Offering care providers such as care homes, day services, supported living, recovery hubs, hospitals, and hospices the opportunity to engage with remote arts and culture programming helps them to support the arts engagement of the people they care for and all of the wellbeing benefits that brings. The programme also provides a supportive space for staff to develop the digital skills and confidence needed to support the digital inclusion of residents and service users, opening up the use of digital tools and services to connect with family and friends, manage health and wellbeing, and live more independently.
Taking part in this programme is an opportunity for care providers to explore opportunities to bring more arts and culture into their activity programming and to form lasting partnerships with Leeds arts organisations.
The final timetable of events will be available for booking by care providers in late summer.
Care providers are invited to complete a short expression of interest form to be among the first to be notified when the timetable is released. Alternatively care providers are welcome to look out for the release of the final timetable via the 100% Digital Leeds blog.
Support available to care providers
This project has been shaped by Leeds Care Delivery Service and Springfield Care as part of 100% Digital Leeds’s work with care homes. Care providers are invited to complete a short expression of interest form to request support from 100% Digital Leeds to develop their digital inclusion offer or to engage with the Arts in Care Homes Day programme. Support could include supporting your staff to develop their digital skills and confidence, advice on equipment set up, help to dial into Zoom or Teams calls, or something similar. 100% Digital Leeds are happy to have a chat and see how we might be able to support you.
“Having the support of 100% Digital Leeds has been fantastic for our care homes. Not only support but also encouragement and excitement to use more digital resources in creative ways, that benefit not only residents’ connections with the community and their families, but digital inclusion also for staff, with training, increasing their motivation and confidence with digital resources. 100% Digital Leeds team are always available, approachable, open to suggestions, pro-active, bringing new ideas and we look forward to continue working together developing our digital inclusion offer, which is having such a positive impact for our care homes”
Iria Cunha, Wellbeing Development Manager, Springfield Care Villages
Summary of key information
The programme of activities will run from Saturday 24th September to Saturday 1st October
The final programme will be announced towards the end of August
Arts and culture organisations can submit their activities for inclusion in the programme by completing this form by Monday 1st August.
Care providers can request support to access the programme by completing this form at any time until Saturday 1st October
For more information about this project or how you can support contact amy.hearn@leeds.gov.uk
Having digital skills, connectivity, confidence, and motivation means prison leavers are better able to success in the areas of their lives that make people less likely to reoffend:
Finding secure housing
Managing finances and accessing benefits
Engaging with education
Accessing work
Managing their health and wellbeing
Reconnecting with family and friends and building positive support networks
The project is split in to 3 key strands
Taking a community and strengths based approach 100% Digital Leeds is working with partners already supporting prisoners and ex-offenders to embed digital inclusion support into their existing services. With each strand of the project we look at how we can remove the four key barriers to digital inclusion: skills, confidence, connectivity, and motivation.
Improving digital inclusion support for prisoners
Improving digital inclusion support for prison leavers
Improving the transition between services in prison and for prison leavers
The cross-sector Steering Group
On 20 May 2022 we held our second steering group meeting. 24 people from 17 different organisations attended to share knowledge about the work that has taken place so far and help shape the future plans.
We heard from several partners about the digital inclusion interventions they have implemented as part of this project, with support from 100% Digital Leeds, and the impact that work is having:
Improving digital inclusion support for prisoners
Immersive digital inclusion pilot at HMP Wealstun
Mark Acaster from HMP Wealstun has implemented a digital inclusion pilot in the sewing machine repair workshop at the prison. He has secured new equipment, modernising the stock control system and opening up more opportunities for prisoners to engage with digital software and hardware for stock management and form completion.
Mark shared how giving prisoners the opportunity to engage with digital outside of a formal education setting had been effective in building their confidence and improving their real-life digital skills. Mark is able to signpost prisoners to further improve their digital skills by engaging with formal education programmes. This pilot has sparked discussions about how similar approaches could be taken in other parts of the prison.
“I have really enjoyed improving my I.T skills as I know they are going to help me upon release.”
Prisoner, HMP Wealstun
Opening up access to Barclays Digital Wings for prisoners
Steve Grix from Novus and Matthew Daniells from Barclays have been working on delivering improved digital learning on Virtual Campus by opening up access to Barclays Digital Wings. This will allow prisoners support with a wider range of transferable digital skills with real-world applications. Barclays are also working with the steering group to look at how the content of Digital Wings can be updated to further meet the needs of prisoners.
Improving digital inclusion support for prison leavers
Community Calling device gifting pilot with Leeds Housing Options and Barca
We reflected on the successes of the pilot supporting prison leavers with connectivity by working with Leeds Housing Options and BARCA to gift smartphones with data to selected prison-leavers through Hubbub and O2’s Community Calling scheme. We followed the progress of the people who have been gifted devices and shared case studies around its impact, advocating for connectivity support alongside prison release and exploring how we can take this learning and implement a more sustainable approach to gifting devices and data.
Digital inclusion support for perpetrators of domestic violence at Change Grow Live
Alison Barrie from Change Grow Live (CGL) has been working with 100% Digital Leeds to design a bespoke digital inclusion intervention for perpetrators of domestic violence, as part of their Integrated Offender Management service. CGL staff have taken part in multiple digital inclusion workshops with 100% Digital Leeds to co-produce an intervention focussing on providing digital devices and connectivity in a way that makes best use of the organisation’s resources with limited risk. CGL have upgraded their IT suite and started piloting a scheme of device gifting and lending using internal funds, alongside staff championing digital and signposting to further support. So far there has been no recorded reoffending from recipients of a device from CGL.
“It [having access to the internet] has made my house a home”.
Service user, Change Grow Live
Improving staff awareness of digital inclusion issues and approaches at CFO
Emma Leigh from CFO Activity Hub shared how the Digital Inclusion Awareness Workshop they had with 100% Digital Leeds helped their staff to understand the potential digital inclusion needs of their service users and identify further practical opportunities for embedding more digital inclusion into their existing activities.
Improving the transition between services in prison and for prison leavers
Understanding the support available from DWP
Donnella Carrier from DWP explained their support on offer for prisoners and prison-leavers including contacting employers, dealing with benefit enquiries, signposting and discussing support needs and barriers to digital inclusion on induction and release.
Understanding the support available from Shannon Trust
Ian Merrill from Shannon Trust talked about how they provide peer-led basic literacy and numeracy in prisons via Learning & Skills Managers. He quoted that 57% of people coming through the prison system have a reading age of 11 or less. Shannon Trust’s literacy app based on phonics-based programme Turning Pages will be available later in 2022, as part of the Ministry of Justice’s Prison Leaver Innovation Challenge.
Next Steps
Exploring further options to increase connectivity for prison leavers including encouraging partners to register with the National Databank and forthcoming Device Bank.
Round table discussion with Digital Wings with an open invite for organisations to attend and give feedback on their curriculum and suggestions of gaps or improvements.
Round table discussion with key partners looking at how women prisoners and prison-leavers experience digital exclusion and bespoke interventions that could be designed to meet those specific needs.
Offering Digital Inclusion Awareness workshops to support partner workforce development.
Next steering group – the date will go out in July. For an invitation email paul.wilkes@leeds.gov.uk
O2 and Hubbub launched the Community Calling campaign in Leeds in January 2021. The campaign gifts smartphones with free data, calls and texts to digitally excluded people. 100% Digital Leeds worked closely with Hubbub to coordinate the distribution of phones through our networks of community partners across the city. As well as working collaboratively with our partners in Leeds, we also worked with colleagues in the region to distribute phones across West Yorkshire.
In three phases during 2021, the 100% Digital Leeds team distributed 1,350 phones to organisations supporting digitally excluded people throughout Leeds. We also arranged for 500 phones to be distributed to our contacts in Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees. This has enabled people across the region to get online to keep in touch with friends and family, access digital services, learn new skills and participate in an increasingly digital world.
Project Delivery
To distribute and deliver the phones, the 100% Digital Leeds team identified community partners who support a range of people from different Communities of Interest. We asked those organisations to identify people who were among the most isolated or excluded so that the phones would go to beneficiaries who really needed them. Priority was given to service-users who did not have a phone, could not afford to get online or could not access the internet independently.
All of the organisations that received phones work with people who are more likely to be digitally excluded, many of whom face multiple barriers to getting online. We worked with organisations supporting a wide range of people including:
Care home residents
Gypsy and Traveller families
Older people
People living in poverty or on a low income
People who are homeless or at risk of homelessness
People with learning disabilities and autistic people
Refugees and asylum seekers
Women and girls
Over 80 third sector organisations in Leeds received phones through the distribution networks that we set up with our community partners.
100% Digital Leeds networks
100% Digital Leeds has a number of digital inclusion networks bringing together partners who support specific communities.
The success of Community Calling in Leeds relied on multiple organisations working together to deliver phones to digitally excluded people. Thanks to our well-established relationships with partners in the third sector, 100% Digital Leeds could mobilise quickly to distribute the phones. This was important to ensure that the full 12-months of free calls and data could be used by beneficiaries.
The organisations have all supported each beneficiary to make the most of the device they’ve been given. This is a direct result of the work that 100% Digital Leeds has done with each of those partners to help them understand the person-centred approach to supporting people to become more digitally included.
100% Digital Leeds has excellent relationships with the organisations we work with, and they have trusted relationships with their service users. We can move quickly to coordinate device distribution at scale and ensure that phones go to people who most need them. The organisations we work with know their service users best, so they had the autonomy to choose the beneficiaries who would receive phones. Some organisations acted as distribution centres for smaller organisations who work with the same Communities of Interest.
Gifting or lending?
100% Digital Leeds has helped to set up dozens of device lending schemes run by different organisations across the city. Lending schemes are important, and a loan may be appropriate for some people as a short-term response or if they have an immediate need. But lending is unlikely to be a long-enough intervention for people with very low digital skills or for those who are the most digitally excluded.
There are additional benefits to beneficiaries being gifted a device rather than being lent a device. These include higher levels of:
Certainty – recipients of gifted devices are safe in the knowledge that their device won’t be recalled at the end of a loan period.
Security – recipients can fully utilise features that they may not feel comfortable using on a shared device. This could include keeping personal photos and messages on the device, installing their own apps, creating their own bookmarks and using websites and tools that store personal data and passwords.
Ownership – each recipient can take ownership of their own digital development. They are free to use the device in ways that are meaningful for them and learn new skills at their own pace over a longer timeframe.
Trust – giving a device to someone can strengthen the trusted relationship between the recipient and the organisation.
Impact
Testimonials from some of the organisations who took part in the Community Calling scheme:
“I think the smartphones have been one of the most effective interventions we’ve done, not just because of the benefits of the device and data but the impact on clients’ self-esteem. One client was very socially isolated and was lacking the digital means to help address this. Since he has had the smartphone, he has been able to connect with friends on Facebook and set up an email to enable me to send him signposting information. The impact on his mental health has been very noticeable and he is very appreciative.”
“My client moved to the UK a couple of years ago to support her relative with childcare. She was reliant on her family for everything but was desperate to be self-sufficient. She also felt lonely and isolated due to being alone in the house during the daytime and was tearful and emotional during our initial conversations. This isolation caused her great anxiety, affected her sleep and she was taking anti-depressants prescribed by her GP”
“The Client told me that she felt happy, lighter, and excited about having her own phone. It meant that she could keep in touch with relatives abroad, look for jobs and it gave her a bit of hope for the future. She also felt liberated simply because of having her own phone and her own telephone number, so she could now access social activities, and be her own independent person. At the exit appointment the Client told me that receiving the phone was a turning point in her life, as she felt connected to the outside world and was able to take control of her life again.”
“One person could have been viewed as a high-risk donation, with the phone at risk of being sold or lost due to high levels of substance use. But she still has her phone after 12 months. She uses it to stay in touch with family, combat isolation and making calls for her appointments. Her wellbeing has improved over the past year and her substance use has significantly decreased.”
“SG is an Eastern European man sleeping rough and known to St Anne’s. He was given a Community Calling phone when he presented at a City Square food provision. He used the phone and data to contact his family via social media. He is now reunited with his family and living with his brother.”
“CH was an active heroin user and a St Anne’s service user for a number of years who had struggled to find and maintain secure accommodation. In March 2020 he was placed in temporary emergency accommodation and supported to engage with Forward Leeds. Saviour Trust were able to find him accommodation with a friend, but that relationship broke down. CH visited St Anne’s to use their PCs to bid on Housing Leeds properties. He was offered a Community Calling smartphone with data to allow him to spend more time active bidding and was able to secure a property. He no longer presents at St Anne’s but is often seen around town by staff and always stops to show them he’s still got his phone and to thank them.”
“KB and JB came to St Anne’s for support ending a tenancy. Having no access to a phone meant they needed to spend a lot of time at St Anne’s waiting for calls from Leeds Housing Options, who had no other way to contact them. Having a smartphone has allowed them to be less reliant on St Anne’s staff and more independent in managing their situation. They have now both been placed in temporary accommodation. KB struggles with low mood and is thankful to be able to use the phone and data to watch a film or listen to music, both of which help him manage his mental health.”
“RM has led a life of trauma and chaos. His past has affected his mental health and he struggles to control his emotions and temper. As a result, he has had frequent incidents at St Anne’s when he has been verbally abusive and physically threatening to staff and other service users. He was given a Community Calling smartphone to access tools that help him deescalate and manage his emotions, such as listening to music and watching films. He has since been placed in temporary accommodation and being able to access entertainment media at home on his phone has helped him manage his mental health and stay home and “out of trouble”. Since being gifted the smartphone RM has spent more time at home St Anne’s have seen him in fewer incidents.”
“Thank you for the gift, which helped me speak with my family back home in Africa. Talking with my family and community groups in the UK during the lockdown and beyond made me feel less isolated and more engaged without the stress of topping up. As a person with no income and not allowed to work, you can imagine how stressful not being able to meet or speak with people is. This scheme helped me a lot and I am very grateful for the support!”
A series of creative digital storytelling workshops
100% Digital Leeds are pleased to be partnering with LEEDS 2023 to offer a series of free workshops to partners, making creative digital skills and software more accessible to Leeds communities, an idea born via the Arts and Culture Digital Inclusion Network. The workshops are free, assume no prior digital skills, utilise free digital tools, and are led by experts from across Leeds’s creative industries. Together, we break down the perceptions that digital software is difficult to use, expensive and inaccessible to anyone outside of creative industries. The various software packages highlighted are free, powerful and support the creation of high-quality content.
At LEEDS 2023 we are building up to our year of culture, letting culture loose across the city. These upskilling workshops are one of the ways we are supporting artists, creatives, organisations and anyone who wants to get involved to learn new skills. It has been great to partner with 100% Digital Leeds on this programme to ensure that it reaches people across the city. Every workshop is free, we are offering bus fare for anyone that needs it, and we are creating online versions for people who can’t attend. We want to make sure that these workshops are open to everyone.
Adam Sas-Skowronski, Creative Technologist, LEEDS2023
The workshop series covers tools needed for capturing, creating, and sharing engaging digital content with workshops on the basics of video editing, sound recording, image editing, and streaming. Each workshop gives attendees the skills and knowledge needed to share their stories, and the stories of the people and communities they work with and in, using free and easy to use digital tools.
The workshops to date
Two workshops have taken place so far: ‘Audio editing with Audacity’ and ‘Video editing with DaVinci Resolve’.
Our aim is to give workshop participants the basic skills they need to begin experimenting and exploring their creative skills. We have already run workshops on the basics of video editing, using the program DaVinci Resolve which was lead by Northern Film School academic Lee Robinson, and sound editing on Audacity, which was lead by BBC Radio Leeds Producer Dan Purvis. The overwhelming feedback is that we should run more.
Adam Sas-Skowronski, Creative Technologist, LEEDS2023
Attendance
We have seen a lot of interest and ‘buzz’ around the series and both the first and second workshops in the series were sell-out events, with the second workshop being a full house on the day.
Across workshops one and two over 50 people have booked spaces and the workshops have seen a 70% attendance rate on the day. The in-person events in the city centre have attracted people from across Leeds with attendees travelling from Armley, Guiseley, Harehills, Kirkstall, Moortown, Woodhouse, and Yeadon.
Attendance has been cross-sector:
around half to two thirds of attendees represent community or third sector
around a third attendees came from the creative industries
a small percentage attended from the public and education sectors
We’ve been pleased to see engagement from some of 100% Digital Leeds’s most valued digital inclusion delivery partners from across Leeds and supporting a range of Communities of Interest, including Richmond Hill Elderly Action, Proverbs 31 Woman, People Matters, The Highrise Project, Drighlington Digital and GIPSIL – Our Way Leeds, and community arts organisations supporting digital inclusion such as Open Source Arts, Pyramid, and Space2. We have also had support from third sector infrastructure partners in promoting the workshops.
developing skills to be later shared with communities
creating engaging community learning resources
recording community history and creating digital archives
supporting hybrid working and delivery
capturing and sharing organisational impact
creating content, from fitness videos to sermons
Impact and evaluation
On a scale of 1 to 5, 100% of responders said the workshops delivered to date rated as a 4 or 5 in terms of being both engaging and user friendly. Attendees also rated as a 4 or 5 the likelihood of them recommending the workshop series to a friend or attending another workshop themselves.
Thank you to all involved and thanks for being so patient with me. Looking forward to practicing my learning. https://t.co/MMBVvVN78R
Comments from attendees are similarly overwhelmingly positive:
“I have broken the fear of trying a new software so thank you. I am left with plenty of materials to practice on at home and cannot wait for the next workshop.”
“I liked how accessible it felt, I am completely new to using audacity and sound and this felt really user friendly
“I was nervous that it the session would be full of people that work in creative technology but such an interesting mix of people, professions, ages, and reasons for attending.”
It was great, I learned a lot – some of what I learned is going to save me a lot of time in my current work”
“I liked this workshop it was very engaging and I got to learn as I went along.”
“I learned loads and will definitely be signing up for another”.
Workshop attendees
We had a great time at the Davinci Resolve workshop last night. As professional creatives, we have access to Adobe Creative Cloud, but a lot of the people we work with don't, so it's fantastic to find out more about free, open source software to share with our communities! https://t.co/vWBYitTWf9pic.twitter.com/NQsVJZ71iX
— The Highrise Project CIC (@leedshighrise) May 26, 2022
Tweet from Highrise Project
Nearly half have of those who completed the evaluation commented that they would have liked the workshop to be longer so we have taken that on board and future sessions will last two hours rather than the originally planned 90 minutes. We will also ask attendees to arrive at the workshop 15 minuets before the start time to ensure we’re ready to start the workshop content promptly.
Future workshops
The rest of the series will see sessions on similar creative digital storytelling themes including:
Social media training for Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok
Interactive storytelling on Twine
Livestream using OBS, Twitch, YouTube Live and Restream
Basics of video game making using Unity
Workshops are announced on a month-by-month basis and the next session, ‘Image editing with GoDaddy Studio’ on Wednesday 22nd June, is now open for booking via Eventbrite.
Image Editing with GoDaddy Studio Wed 22 June, 5:30 – 7:30, Platform (LS1)