Museums across Minnesota and Wisconsin are developing cultural program for masses with Alzheimer ’s and dementia . Designed to help stimulate past memory and allow a welcoming social distance for patients and their primary care provider , the programs , collectively calledSPARK ! , include artwork tours , house painting class , and even trip the light fantastic .
So far , ten museum are participating in SPARK ! , which mold in partnership with the Alzheimer ’s Association . grant toSmithsonian.com , the primary end of the programs is to “ utilise artwork and other sensory comment to aid stimulate farseeing - term retention retention among patrons . ”
According toThe Star Tribune , the SPARK ! guided art duty tour focus more on personal experience and memory than arts pedagogy . turn guide allow some background on each work of art , but are chiefly focused on perk up conversation amongst their hearing . Some tours even incorporate other sensory item like scented candles or coarse-textured textile to help spark memories .
Marv Lofquist , who was diagnose with Alzheimer ’s in 2012 and often speaks to groups on behalf of the Alzheimer ’s Association , toldThe Star Tribune , “ If you asked me right now what I call up about the last time we were in the Bakken Museum , I ’d be able to give you a few details but not very many . ” But Lofquist believe the museum allow for all-important noetic stimulation for those with Alzheimer ’s . “ I have bother recalling it later , but what ’s important is that I get that stimulus regularly , ” he explain .
allot to museum employees , SPARK ! is part of a larger effort to make museums in full inclusive space . “ There are a lot of barriers in the world that keep the great unwashed from participating fully , ” Emma Allen of the Bell Museum of Natural History toldThe Star Tribune . “ How do we make a quad that has few barriers ? ”
[ h / t : Smithsonian.com , The Star Tribune ]
