NAPA Launches National Day of Arts in Care Homes 2026
The National Activity Providers Association (NAPA) has launched the National Day of Arts in Care Homes 2026 and is inviting care providers across the UK to take part on Thursday 24th September.
The theme for this year’s campaign is “Stories That Connect Us”, celebrating the ways creativity can help people express who they are, share experiences, build relationships and connect with the people and communities around them.
Stories are part of all our lives. They can carry memories and traditions, celebrate identity and culture, capture everyday experiences or take us somewhere completely new through imagination. The arts provide many different ways for these stories to be explored and expressed.
The National Day of Arts in Care Homes was launched in 2019 to provide a shared national focus for arts activities and projects in care settings. The campaign has grown each year, with hundreds of care settings and thousands of people participating in creative experiences.
For 2026, NAPA is encouraging care providers to work with residents, Activity Providers, staff, relatives, volunteers, artists and community partners to create activities that reflect people’s interests, identities, experiences and stories.
Projects might explore resident’s memories or local history, bring generations together to share experiences, celebrate different cultures and traditions, create new stories through art or performance or use photography, music and digital media to capture the people, places and moments that matter.
The campaign is not limited to any one art form. Care settings can take part through visual art, music, theatre, movement, dance, photography, creative writing, storytelling, digital arts or any other art form that is meaningful to their communities.
Hilary Woodhead, CEO, at NAPA, said: “Creativity is an essential part of meaningful engagement. It provides opportunities for people to express themselves, share their experiences, build relationships and contribute to the life of their community. The National Day helps the care sector celebrate excellent creative practice while encouraging more people and organisations to get involved. We want care providers to see 24th September as both a celebration and a starting point for embedding creativity in everyday care and support.”
NAPA is asking care-sector organisations and publications to help promote the campaign, share examples of good practice and recognise the expertise of Activity Providers who make meaningful creative participation possible.
Free resources and a campaign toolkit are available to help care settings plan and deliver their activities.
Care settings can participate by choosing an art form, planning with their community, downloading the free resources and sharing their experience using #AICH2026 and tagging NAPA.
Further information is available at:
