Creating together: Arts for Dementia and Central Saint Martins

Posted: 10th March 2026

“You and the rest of the team plus the students were a healing balm in the midst of sadness and stress…”

Our partnership began when Alex Schady , CSM Programme Director Fine Art, attended one of our training sessions. From there the concept of a joint programme was developed with the launch planned just as we entered the Covid pandemic. While the programme was intended to be hosted at CSM, no one wanted to give up on it as we entered lock-down, so it was transformed and became an online programme.

Our collaboration has grown since then into a dynamic and mutually beneficial partnership, enriching students’ learning, expanding our creative practice, and offering participants enriching experiences that challenge assumptions about dementia and ageing.

A partnership that has evolved

The first programme was delivered online during lockdown. Determined that the collaboration should go ahead, CSM lecturer Alex Schady cycled materials to participants’ homes so they could take part fully from their living rooms.

The commitment shown in those early months set the tone for what has become a sustained and evolving relationship. Since then we have delivered six programmes together, which are embedded within the curriculum for BA Fine Art program for year two students.

Contemporary visual arts practices are used in the programmes, including digital art such as film and sound, ceramics, sculpture and painting. Workshops are often centered around a particular theme with storytelling at their heart. Participants work is then celebrated at an end of programme exhibition, which also allows other courses to witness what has been achieved and results in wider interest from other courses.

As the relationship has developed, fine art programme director, Alex Schady has passed the project onto Shephard Manyika, lecturer in Fine Art who teaches in the XD course. Our relationship with the students has also developed, some have maintained contact with us long after their programme has ended. The partnership now feels embedded rather than experimental, part of the fabric of both organisations’ work.

Expanding creative practice through collaboration

For Arts for Dementia, working with CSM has opened new creative possibilities. Working with the university brings digital technologies and specialist equipment that we would not typically have access to in community venues.

Motion-sensor gloves, transforming gesture into digital imagery. High-spec cameras manipulating light into blurred, abstract forms. Fully equipped ceramics studios with storage, kilns and technical support. As one member of our team reflected, these experiences have challenged assumptions about what is possible.

“It’s opened our eyes to working more with tech… If we have the equipment and enough people to show them, our participants absolutely can engage with digital.”

The scale of student involvement, often around ten students working alongside our group, also shifts the dynamic. The students design and deliver sessions as part of their assessed university module and with more hands in the room, there is greater one-to-one support.

This has created a different kind of creative space: one that feels energetic, communal and exploratory.

A core part of students’ learning

For CSMs students, these programmes are not extracurricular. They form part of a marked module focused on delivering creative work in community contexts. Students attend bespoke dementia awareness training provided by Arts for Dementia, before designing their sessions.

They learn about communication, accessibility, inclusion and adapting creative ideas for diverse needs. Students also benefit from building an understanding of co-creation and collaboration, which is particularly beneficial as most students usually work independently and have no experience of delivering a workshop.

Several students have gone on to deepen their involvement:

• Volunteering at Arts for Dementia workshops and events
• Leading Art Wednesday’s sessions
• Applying for postgraduate psychotherapy training, supported by references from our team
• Applying for staff roles within Arts for Dementia
• Continuing placements beyond required university hours

One student who joined through the CSM programme later attended additional sessions, led her own Art Wednesday workshop and secured a place on an MA in psychotherapy. She credited the experience with strengthening her application and clarifying her direction.
The partnership provides a live, relational context in which students experience creativity through connection.

Why intergenerational work matters

The intergenerational element is central to the programme’s success. Many of our participants spend time in age-specific environments. At CSM, they enter a different world, a vibrant university building where even the architecture and corridors feel creative.

For some, it is their first time inside a university. For others, it reconnects them with past experiences.One participant, a former art teacher living with dementia, was so energised by being back in a fine art studio that he moved from desk to desk offering feedback to students. Staff had to gently guide him out at the end of the session. He was so engaged that a senior lecturer stayed behind to give him a personal tour. The experience clearly reignited something fundamental: confidence, authority, belonging and he has attended each of the four programmes we have run with CSM since.

The students also benefit from the experience, for many this is their first meaningful interaction with people living with dementia. The space becomes one of shared learning rather than hierarchy. As one of our team observed:

“It doesn’t feel like teacher and student. It feels balanced. Everyone’s learning from each other.”

Participants frequently comment on how much they value being around younger people. One described it as a rare opportunity “to be in and amongst younger generations.” The atmosphere is not one of care, but of collaboration.

This equal footing challenges limiting narratives around dementia. People living with dementia are not positioned as recipients of support, but as artists, collaborators and contributors.

Wellbeing, identity and public recognition

The partnership contributes directly to wellbeing, with participants experiencing:

• Increased confidence through mastering new art forms
• Social connection across generations
• Intellectual stimulation through unfamiliar technologies
• Pride in exhibiting work publicly

On several occasions, artwork created during the programme has been displayed in CSM’s public-facing windows. Participants watched short films made during their workshops, attended unveilings, celebrated together, and watched passers-by stop to look at their work.

Seeing their art presented professionally within a world-renowned art school reinforces identity.

It says: your creativity matters. Your voice belongs here.

The celebration events that accompany exhibitions have also created space for reflection and feedback. Participants often express enthusiasm and a desire to return. Some participants attend many Arts for Dementia programmes, but some attend only CSM programmes, drawn by the distinctive atmosphere and proximity to home.

For companions and carers, the structure of the sessions often allows greater independence. Participants may work one-to-one with a student while companions explore separately, shifting dynamics and restoring autonomy.

A mutually beneficial model

The strength of this partnership lies in the fact that it creates benefit for everyone involved.

Looking ahead: working with more universities

The success of the CSM partnership has demonstrated the mutual beneficial aspect of working with educational institutions.
There is growing interest within higher education in community practice, creative health and socially engaged art. Many courses now require students to undertake community-facing modules.

Arts for Dementia offers:

• Expertise in dementia and accessibility
• Established participant groups
• Training and safeguarding frameworks
• A proven intergenerational model
• Opportunities for research, placements and volunteering

As creative health gains recognition nationally, partnerships like this demonstrate what is possible: students finding purpose beyond industry pathways; people living with dementia demonstrating capability and imagination; creativity acting as a meeting point between generations.

Our collaboration with CSM has become a model of how we can work with universities and community organisations, not simply to deliver workshops, but also to deliver benefits for students and to help reshape perceptions of ageing, dementia and creative potential.