Artful Moments : Building Meaningful Museum Experiences for People Living with Dementia

Artful Moments: Building Museum Experiences for People Living with Dementia is a resource to support museums in creating programs for people living with dementia that are person-centered, empowering and responsive. It is based on the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s long-standing Artful Moments program and is the result of the learning and experiences the authors have had in offering creative programs for people throughout their journey with dementia.

Combining specialized strategies for dementia care with museum-based activities, Artful Moments explores how museum can open up a world of in-the-moment engagement and enjoyment for the participants with dementia, while providing opportunities for social connection and shared experience with loved ones and peers.

This book combines the knowledge of experienced practitioners in museum education and healthcare, introducing a proven program methodology that considers the museum experience as a whole, and using strategies to support engagement, ultimately achieving improved wellbeing for participants. The authors understand and embrace the idea that each museum is unique, bringing their own site, collections and activities to their work. In this ‘how-to guide’, they present a knowledge base and a planning process that is broadly applicable to any museum site, whether an art gallery, history museum, historical site, botanical garden, zoo or more.