Opening the Door: A report on the Generations 3 project

The following report provides a snapshot account of the Generations 3 project, based on the researcher’s attendance at two workshops, the final sharing event and insights gleaned in four interviews, two with older participants and two with students. It describes the process of the workshops – suggesting how and why they work in the ways that they do, with a focus on the role of improvisation and game playing. The ways in which the workshops facilitate intergenerational interactions are discussed and connected with this, the extent to which the workshops help to challenge stereotypes associated with ageing and later life. Finally, the ways that the workshops affect wellbeing for both arts students and older participants are examined. The report opens with some wider contextual background to Generations 3 including the role of the arts for health, the ubiquitous concept of wellbeing and recent scholarship on co-creativity. The main body of the report comprises observations drawn from the workshops, the sharing event and interviews. The title of the report was inspired by a comment from one of the students who remarked that the workshops served the function of opening the door between generations.