#socialdigital: Cultural programme in the retirement home

Initiated as a partner project with the district of Kulmbach and committed artists from the region, Adalbert-Raps-Stiftung 's #sozialdigital initiative has set itself the task of bringing cultural programmes into Upper Franconia's homes for the elderly and in this way promoting cultural participation in inpatient facilities. Today's press conference at the BRK Bürgerhospital marked the start of the initiative.

Press conference with symbolic tablet handover to launch the #socialdigital initiative

Enabling seniors in residential care to participate in society in the same way as other population groups is generally a great challenge. Corona-related measures such as contact and exit regulations further restrict the possibility of participation, make social contacts and also access to cultural offerings more difficult. Ultimately, they have a negative impact on psychological well-being. With the #sozialdigital initiative, Adalbert-Raps-Stiftung wants to counteract this situation and enable residents of inpatient facilities to participate a little more in culture and thus also in society. The idea: cultural programmes such as musical or theatrical performances are recorded and made available to residents interested in culture in the form of approx. 25-minute videos. As part of the #sozialdigital project, which is being implemented with the support of committed artists and the district of Kulmbach, eleven senior citizens' homes are each being equipped with a tablet to play the culture-mediating videos.

To kick off the initiative, a symbolic tablet handover took place today, Wednesday 30 June 2021, at a press conference at the BRK Bürgerhospital. In addition to local press representatives, Bettina Schüsser, facility manager of the BRK Bürgerhospital, BRK district manager Jürgen Dippold and Christina Flauder, senior citizens' representative of the city of Kulmbach, District Administrator Klaus Peter Söllner also took part in the press conference. With Heike Söllner, Head of KoBE at the Kulmbach District Office, the board members Florian Schneider and Prof. Dr. Dr. habil. Manfred Gareis of Adalbert-Raps-Stiftung and the artists involved in the project, the funding partners and project initiators were also represented.

The detailed press release with all the background and information on the #sozialdigital initiative as well as statements by those involved can be found here.