I wanted to mention ‘Created Out of Mind’ – a group of collaborators from Artists, Researchers and people living with Dementia who aim to change general perceptions of dementia.

Created Out of Mind say :”‘Through two research themes: People and Perceptions and In the Moment, we seek to empower dementia voices, inform new perceptions and representations, and develop tools and methodologies to capture the impact of the arts for dementias”.

I signed up for the Created Out of Mind free course – and you can too here:

Click here to access the online course

Below is a short animation that Created Out of Mind created which I think is a powerful insight into what it is like living with dementia.

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust –

‘Travel to make a difference’

A Churchill Fellowship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand your professional and personal horizons by researching an issue that you care about, with the global leaders in that subject, anywhere in the world.

Funding is available to spend up to two months overseas, meeting experts, visiting projects and learning new ideas. And when you return, we will help you to use what you’ve learnt to make change happen in your sector or community.

I applied for a Winston Churchill Fellowship in 2011 and was lucky enough to be awarded one. It gave me the confidence and determination to develop new projects back in the UK, inspired by what I saw whilst on my fellowship across the USA.

Applications are now open until the 17^th of September 2019 at 5pm for travel during 2020.

You can apply here 

You can read about my fellowship

‘Enriching life with creative expression’ here

Firstly, I wanted to share some interesting resources that have been created to highlight the benefits of the Creative Arts when working with Older People.

These are readily available and can be downloaded for free. All of them are good reads!

The Baring Foundation says:

“Everyone has a fundamental right to take part in cultural activities. Arts and culture also bring benefits in terms of personal health, happiness and wellbeing. That participating in the arts can enhance the lives of older people has now been made by a growing body of evidence and authoritatively reiterated in 2017 in a report by the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Well-being and Health.

However, old age can be an isolating and lonely time and many older people find it hard to get to activities that suit their experience, capabilities and interests. Since 2010, we have focused our arts programme on participatory arts with people over the age of 60 facing disadvantage or discrimination”.

As part of these funded arts programmes, The Baring Foundation has produced a selection of resources as evaluations.

All of them can be found here