Necklace of Stars 2021

Photo by Lois Blackburn.

Arts Derbyshire’s Necklace of Stars project is recruiting for its last phase of participatory workshops in embroidery. Over the last 12 months, we have worked with almost 70 individuals offering one to one workshops in embroidery and creative writing, over the phone.

Funded by Arts Council England and supported by Derbyshire County Council Public Health and Derbyshire Libraries, Necklace of Stars was established to provide a positive creative engagement for older adults experiencing social isolation or who were housebound.

Each participant gets everything they need to engage with the project in the post, using Covid Safe practices, and then receives phone calls for approximately 4 weeks as the artist guides them through the creative process.

The last phase of workshops will take place over the next couple of months and then all of the work will be brought together in a way that we can showcase the creative talent across Derbyshire and beyond!

In January, Necklace of Stars was shortlisted for a national award, Hearts for the Arts, and one the judges, Samuel West (actor and director) said:

“One to one telephone conversations with an artist, discussing the skill and creativity you use to bring a piece of embroidery into the world: I can well imagine the joy and comfort this project brought to people living housebound and alone. And pulling the work together into a quilt will give participants that elusive feeling of being part of something beautiful that’s greater than the sum of its parts. There’s no more powerful antidote to COVID isolation and fear.”

With additional funding from The National Lottery we have also been able to expand our project into Care Homes and we are in the process of developing embroidery and creative writing loan packs for people to access via the Home Library Service beyond the life of the project.

If you are interested in participating in one to one embroidery workshops over the phone, living in Derbyshire and experiencing social isolation, please contact Sally on sally@artsderbyshire.org.uk or call 07395 904386.