At Arts for Dementia, we transform the lives of people living with dementia and those who care for them, through the joy of the arts.
Since 2011 we have delivered and championed meaningful artistic activities that profoundly enhance wellbeing and harness creative skills that we know remain vibrant for years after diagnosis.
We aim to build a community that helps people live life to the full.
Vision, mission and values
Our vision
The future we want to see
Nationwide access to appropriate artistic stimulation that enables all people affected by dementia to live more fulfilled, active lives, at home and in the community.
Our mission
What we’re doing to achieve our vision
In collaboration with artists and cultural organisations we support, promote and deliver inspiring arts activities for people living with the early stages of dementia.
Our values
How we work
Creative
Inclusive
Collaborative
Empowering
Inspiring
Our History
2011
Founded
Inspired by her mother’s response to a cellist playing live, our Founder Veronica Franklin Gould researched the impact of arts on dementia. She identified a real need for those in the early stages of dementia, who are still living at home, and began working with arts organisations to deliver our first workshops.
2012
London arts challenge
We delivered eighteen weekly projects at arts venues around the capital, including visual art, dance, drama, music, photography and poetry and published the resulting evaluation, Reawakening the Mind.
2013 and 2015
Awards
We won the Dementia Award at the inaugural Positive Practice Awards in Mental Health 2013, which celebrated the best in mental health practice by individuals, teams and organisations. We also won an Adult Learner’s Week Award in 2015, celebrating our commitment to adult learning to transform lives.
2018
First networking forum for arts facilitators
We brought together artists and cultural organisations to share examples of great activities and good practice happening around the country, making space for people to share challenges and generate solutions together.
2020
Social prescribing roadshow
We understand the vital role of social prescribers when it comes to encouraging people with dementia to join activities. In 2020 we ran a social prescribing roadshow around the country, raising awareness of the benefits of the arts and the great local activities on offer, and moved the last ones online during Covid.
2020
Delivering online
When we were unable to deliver in-person programmes we began Chatty Wednesdays, a weekly online creative workshop that helped people living with dementia, and their families stay engaged and connected. This continues today as Art Wednesdays.
2021
Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London
We delivered our first intergenerational programme, having trained a cohort of Fine Art students to lead a unique visual arts programme with their professor, Alex Schady. The workshops have since been made part of the curriculum, having started online and they are now held in-person at the impressive Central Saint Martin’s studios.
We need your support
With your help, we can continue to provide groundbreaking initiatives. Your valuable donations mean that people living with dementia, and those that care for them, can access our uplifting events. Whether it’s £10 or £10,000, you can make a difference today.
We have been working with the fantastic team at Central Saint Martins for a few years, and returned there in February for our intergenerational programme as part of the BA Fine Art curriculum. Taking place in the extraordinary on-site art studios, participants with dementia and companions created artworks using print reliefs, foil wrapping, paint, CGI equipment, and a wealth of other high quality and innovative materials available at the university.
We collaborate with galleries, museums, community spaces and artists to deliver our programmes. If you would like to explore working with us, please get in touch.
Whether it’s a personal challenge, sporting goal or birthday fundraiser, your events make all the difference. If you are feeling inspired and would like our support, we would love to hear from you.
Your time is invaluable to us. Fancy supporting at one of our workshops to helping with our communications? We can help find the role for you. Help those living with dementia realise their potential.
