Museums Art & Alzheimer’s Erasmus Project

Project Title

Museums Art & Alzheimer’s

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Health and wellbeing; Disabilities – special needs

Project Summary

The main objectives of the project are to develop educational tools and activities aimed at promoting the wellbeing of people with dementia and their family and professional carers through art and museum programmes. In this way we intend to help trigger a change in the social perception of dementia and to build a “dementia friendly” community.
The idea behind MA&A is that art, considered as a complex cultural and relational experience, and the museum, conceived as an inclusive space for informal learning, can help to develop new strategies and ways of communication and relationship with people with dementia.
International partners of the project are: the Marino Marini Museum of Florence (project leader) since 2012 engaged in accessible programming for people with dementia and their carers and in the training of educators and carers; the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, the first museum in Europe to offer programmes for people living with dementia, with a great deal of experience in training museum educators and in art practice with people with dementia and their carers; the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny, a modern and contemporary art gallery where dementia accessible programming has been a key priority since 2012, when the museum became a founding partner of the Azure Network, which seeks to expand opportunities for people with dementia to engage in cultural life in Ireland; the NGO “Socialiniai meno projektai”, the pioneer of museum accessibility for people with dementia in Lithuania and ZISPB NGO (VšĮ Žmogiškųjų išteklių stebėsenos ir plėtros biuras), which has a great deal of experience in the field of training geriatric operators and socioal workers; Euridea, a training agency that has provided the workgroup with experience in managing European projects.
The first steps were the recognition of the measures taken to address dementia in each partner country, at national and local level, and the qualitative analysis of the training needs of project recipients. We set out from here to focus on the objectives and share website and outputs design: “MA&A training course” for museum educators and geriatric activity coordinators who want to develop museum programmes for people with Alzheimer’s and their carers; “MA&A Handbook”: an online or downloadable and printable toolkit for family or professional carers that provides useful tools on how to communicate with people with dementia through the arts.
Transnational meetings were fundamentals for the implementation of the project. We organised one meeting in each country, distributed over the two years of work in relation to the needs of the project. The meetings fostered a fruitful and significant exchange of visions, ideas, strategies, knowledge and practices.
The Learning event organised in Florence in March 2016 has proposed to deepen the theme of how art can help to develop new strategies and ways of communication with people with dementia. The event allowed the partners to share practical methodologies, experiences and facilitation strategies for outputs development. It also offered the opportunity to hold an international conference not scheduled at the time of the application, with more than 200 people attending.
Pilot activities have been designed not only for testing, but also for the development of outputs through an innovative and participatory approach that provided the active involvement of people with dementia and their carers.
Evaluation of all phases of the project, and particularly outputs assessment, offered key elements for finalization.
The impact of MA&A project was very significant and exceeded expectations. Through the project, partner organizations favored the access of people living with dementia and their carers to meaningful and intense cultural experiences and consolidated their relationships with the community and local stakeholders.
Among the unexpected results we can point out that in Italy, following the pilot experimentation of Output 1, some important museums such as the Florence Cathedral Museum, the Pecci Center for Contemporary Art and the Prato Textile Museum and the network of Empolese Valdelsa museums have started new programmes for people with dementia that have already involved about 100 people in one month.
The project contributes to spreading a new perception of dementia, to break down the stigma, to create a “dementia friendly” society and to network museums offering accessible programmes to people with dementia and their carers.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 274500 Eur

Project Coordinator

Fondazione Marini San Pancrazio & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum
• Kilkenny Art Gallery Society Limited
• SOCIALINIAI MENO PROJEKTAI
• VsI Zmogiskuju istekliu stebesenos ir pletros biuras
• euridea