Funding awarded to researchers exploring Care Aesthetics

Care Aesthetics: Research Exploration (CARE) asks what happens when we consider care a craft or artful practice. The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has awarded researchers at the University of Manchester, the Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, and the University of London, Birkbeck a three-year grant of approximately £1million to explore the concept of Care Aesthetics. Care Aesthetics: Research Exploration (CARE) asks what happens when we consider care a craft or artful practice. Considering the contemporary crisis in care , the project will explore how sensory and embodied practices of care can improve care services and change the quality of socially engaged arts practices. As part of its design, in year 2 of the study, CARE will run case studies in three settings: i) NHS in-patient dementia assessment wards; ii) with care workers in the community; and iii) with artists working in care homes. In addition, the study team will also conduct a major study into creative responses to the Coronavirus pandemic. Madeleine Bunting, in her 2020 book ' Labours of Love: The Crisis of Care ,' called care 'that close but poor relation of artistic creativity'.