The role and value of the arts for people living with a dementia.

This paper will present insights from a number of original projects that Hannah Zeilig has been closely involved with in the last five years and that explore the role and value of the arts for people living with a dementia from various perspectives. The Descartes project was located in a dementia care home in North Norfolk and was primarily concerned with using the arts to help the care staff re-imagine dementia. Mark Making was an AHRC funded UK based study exploring the participative arts for people with a dementia. In the Living Arts project (also based in a dementia care home) a team of artists relied on improvisation to interact artistically with a group of people. The presentation will explore some of the ways in which the arts may facilitate unique interactions for people living with a dementia and also for the care staff and artists involved.