Who we are

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 launched our first community programme in Southwark, committing long-term to providing creative programmes and training and supporting local artists and volunteers, working with local arts and dementia organisations. Southwark’s dementia action alliance and creative health network made it a natural choice.

Our community-based approach delivers regular, inspiring sessions close to where people live. Our first weekly, year-round programme began in Southwark in May, structured into 10-week blocks focused on different arts practices so that participants can explore a range of arts practices.

After many years working with partners in Camden, we launched our second year-round programme at Swiss Cottage Library. Our year-round programmes have proved very popular with our participants, 62% now return for further programmes and we regularly run waiting lists.

In May, we were excited to launch our second year-round venue in Southwark, at SET Social in Peckham, which complements our programme at the Tree House, Elephant Park. These programmes are an important part of our work, providing regular, enjoyable and stimulating art-based activity for local residents, which fosters social connections and creates familiarity and routine.