Arts activities for people with dementia: request for examples to support research
My name is Emily and in October 2015 I began a PhD at the University Of Nottingham researching the arts and dementia as part of the TAnDem (The Arts and Dementia) Doctoral Training Centre that has been funded by the Alzheimer’s Society, in collaboration with the University of Worcester. My supervisors are Tom Dening, Victoria Tischler and Claire Garabedian.
I am tasked with producing an International taxonomy of arts interventions for people with dementia. Taxonomy is a term borrowed from the world of biology, and is used to describe the classification of species. What an arts intervention taxonomy seeks to do therefore, is find and document varieties of arts intervention, grouping similar types together where relevant, and describe the heritage, theoretical rationale and evolution of each art ‘species’. As an explorer might trek through a jungle in search of common or rare specimens, this PhD project will be similarly driven by a spirit of adventurous discovery, looking to collect, name and make sense of the many types of arts activities used around the world. The end product will be an international ‘living catalogue’, that can be a resource of information and inspiration for those delivering, receiving, commissioning and wanting to find out more about arts interventions in a range of different countries.
The first stage of this work is to collect, gather, find and document the many types and varieties of arts intervention that are being used. I am really keen to ensure that the project is truly international and represents work from a broad range of countries. I would be hugely grateful therefore if you could please let me know of any specific services, initiatives, organisations or projects in your respective countries that use the arts as an intervention for people with dementia? Names and contact details of local arts providers or researchers, or reports and evaluations, would be particularly helpful. I would really appreciate your insights and local knowledge. I am also interested in developing a couple of case studies, so this would help me to start identifying potential options for that as well. Thank you very much.