About us

cARTrefu, which means to reside in Welsh, is a six year programme run by Age Cymru which aims to improve access to quality arts experiences for older people in residential care.

cARTrefu is Age Cymru’s flagship arts in care homes project that has been running since 2015, with funding from Baring Foundation and Arts Council Wales. The aim of the project is to improve the provision of creative activity in care homes and develop artist’s skills in running these sessions. Inspired by the Killick- Courtyard Mentoring Model, which has been running at The Courtyard in Hereford since 2011, Age Cymru took this successful model of a mentor-led artists development programme and used it as the building blocks for our experimental arts in care homes project, cARTrefu.

cARTrefu has now grown to become the largest project of its kind in Europe. We have been invited to talk about the project at conferences in Copenhagen, Sydney, Edinburgh, Belfast, Barcelona and London. Wales truly is leading the way when it comes to the impact of arts on well-being, particularly for those living with dementia, and we’re proud that cARTrefu is a significant part of Wales’ ambitions in this field.

We hope that cARTrefu will foster a greater appreciation of the arts among care home staff as they work with our artists. We want care home staff to gain more confidence and acquire new skills, sharing and practicing them in their daily work with residents.