Art and Dementia

Arts Engagement for Liveable Communities

An arts engagement program for people living with dementia

Engaging with and through art has been shown to be beneficial for the health and wellbeing of communities [2, 13]. It also has a positive impact on the wellbeing of older people and people living with dementia and their carers [1, 4, 5, 9, 10]. It can provide opportunities for meaningful engagement, social connection, support positivity and improve self-esteem [5].

The AGNSW ran a pilot arts engagement project for people living with dementia in 2009. Following the success of the project, funding was secured, from individual benefactors and corporate sponsors to continue the Art and Dementia program. Building on this successful arts engagement program and findings from the 2016 evaluation of the program and recognising the increasing demand for programs from the community, AGNSW access program producer Danielle Gullotta worked with arts and health researcher Dr Gail Kenning to explore how the existing arts engagement program could be extended and developed. The project was funded by New South Wales (NSW) Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) as part of their Liveable Communities program.

Read about the project here: Liveable Communities