Unley Legends

Status: Ongoing

Unley Australia

Print this page City population: 3891528% over 60Practice started in 2017

Summary

Developed in partnership between the City of Unley and Resthaven Inc, Unley Legends is a series of short films showcasing seven inspring legends of the Unley community who are still very much young at heart. Together, the City of Unley and Resthaven were on a mission to challenge people’s stereotypes about what it means to age. The films also hoped to remind people that age is just a number and it doesn’t have to restrict you from being active and doing the things that you love. The films were launched at the Capri Theatre in front of a full cinema and then shared on social media via a campaign which resulted in tens of thousands of individual views.

In terms of social inclusion, the films provided the opportunity to acknowledge, highlight and celebrate the achievements and lifestyles of the legends featured. The films raised awareness and offered the opportunity for the audience to question their own attitudes to older people in their community. Many attendees of the premiere reflected that they felt differently about older people in their lives as a result of seeing the films, and were inspired to find similar legends in their own communities.

Website: https://www.unley.sa.gov.au/projects-initiatives/age-friendly-city#hash-slide-unley-legends-431

Key facts

Main target group: Both younger and older people (i.e. intergenerational)

Sector(s): Health, Housing, Information and communication

Other sector(s): Active Volunteering

Desired outcome for older people:
Contribute

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:

Ageism
Accessibility
Ageing in place
Dementia
Healthy behaviours (e.g. physical activity)
Inclusion
Participation

Contact details

Name: Megan Berghuis

Email address: mberghuis@unley.sa.gov.au

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Local authorities

Others involved in the project:

Social or health care provider

How collaboration worked: Resthaven’s contribution was significant, and consisted of both financial and in-kind support. During the creative stage, project partners worked together to draft and fine-tune the concept. When it came time to find participants for the films, the partnership between the City of Unley and Resthaven meant potential candidates could be identified through a variety of Council and Resthaven programs. This allowed a diverse range of residents to be profiled, with various degrees of independence: for example, from people living in their own homes, to retirement villages and care facilities. This added diversity to the films that would not have been possible if the City of Unley undertook the project on its own. The partnership with Resthaven also meant the costs of the video production and in kind staff coordination time could be shared and the project achieved within budget.

Older people’s involvement: Older people helped to implement the age-friendly practice

Details on older people’s involvement: The most important relationship was with our Unley Legends, who permitted filming in their homes, their backyards and of their families. With proper consents in place for all involved, and appropriate communication to ensure the project was fully understood, the Unley Legends project followed all protocols required for filming with older people. We remain most grateful to these inspiring individuals who shared their stories.

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: No

Do you plan to evaluate your age-friendly practice? Yes

Feedback:
The Unley Legends films received over 60,000 social media views, likes and shares. The response we received from our audience, both online and physically, was very positive. The attendees of the premier felt that the films encouraged them to reassess how they viewed the older people in their lives, and inspired them to discover their own Unley Legends.

Expansion plans:
The City of Unley continues to foster therelationship with Resthaven, and due to the success of Unley Legends is now in the planning phase to develop a new series of films which further explore ageing in place and connection to community.

Looking back

Reflections:
Attitudinal change occurs in the long term and is difficult to capture with data. Measuring the success and impact of the films has been difficult to record, however an approach to outcome measurement could be incorporated into future programs.

Challenges:
Each of the residents profiled in the films had little prior experience of being filmed, and the project team were aware that the residents may become overwhelmed, tired or lose patience during long periods of filming while having to repeat the same answers to questions in order to get the ‘perfect shot’. This was managed by properly briefing each of the film subjects, explaining the reasons behind the need to do multiple takes, and limiting filming to a few hours at a time.