Direct[Message]: Exploring Access and Engagement With the Arts Through Digital Technology in COVID Times (La Rose et al., 2022)

Direct[Message], a community-based research (CBR) project developing a digital platform supporting older adults engagement with the arts through digital technologies, faced the challenge of redesigning the research protocol after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020. The redesign, which brought challenges and opportunities, allowed the research team to embed the project with process goals considering older adults’ experiences of social isolation, and exploring how these experiences might be mitigated by greater access to the arts through technology. This article explores the redesign process undertaken by the Direct[Message] team and presents preliminary findings from this multiyear study.

Direct[message] Community Stories

In the four episodes of direct[message] Community Stories, the project’s community consultants discuss what they like to be called, how the names of things influences what they’ll participate in, employment, wisdom, and social media.

Direct[message], a five-year project to increase access to artistic experience for older adults, was guided by a panel of older adult community consultants from the project cities of Guelph, Hamilton, and London.

Direct[message] Administered Interactive Survey Research Report

Direct[message]: Access to Engagement for the AgingCommunity was a collaborative, community based, artsinformed research project working with the three citiesof Hamilton, London, and Guelph in SouthwesternOntario (Canada). The overarching goal of the projectwas to make artistic engagement (doing arts includingfolk art and crafting, appreciating art, and learningabout artistic practices and artists) more accessible forolder adults […]