After its first two stops in North Wales and London the ground-breaking Imagination Café continues its 2018 tour in Edinburgh at the City Art Centre on 17-20th September.
The Imagination Café Edinburgh is a pop-up installation at the City Art Centre and it is touring the UK during 2018, spreading the word about creative approaches to dementia care.
The Imagination Café welcomes the public, offering activities specially designed for those with dementia including visual art, music, and storytelling devised by Professor Victoria Tischler, Head of the Dementia Care Centre at the University of West London, and underpinned by research undertaken by Professor Tischler and her colleagues at Bangor, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Manchester Metropolitan Universities
The Cafe showcases artwork made by people with dementia and provides training to artists interested in working in dementia care, led by artists who worked on Dementia and Imagination, ensuring that the skills and expertise developed during the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project are shared widely.
The project is a welcoming, creative, communal space that showcases a variety of multi-sensory approaches that can be used in dementia care. These include dementia friendly afternoon tea courtesy of Nourish by Jane Clarke, (2-4pm 17, 18 & 19th September) and visual arts displays and activities devised as part of Dementia and Imagination, along with specialist information. The Imagination Café also features excerpts from the book Winston’s World – A Cat’s Eye View of Dementia, copies of which will be on sale at the event for £5.
Councillor Donald Wilson, Culture and Communities Convener, said;
Edinburgh was declared Scotland’s first dementia-friendly city in 2014, thanks in large part to the amazing work taking place in our communities to better understand and support people with memory loss. It feels like a natural fit to extend these efforts to take in our museums and galleries, which are inviting and inspiring places everyone should have the chance to enjoy.
The café concept also follows our recent partnership with the Forget-Me-Not Trust, which is currently designing a permanent, dementia-friendly garden within the beautiful tranquil grounds of Lauriston Castle.
These meaningful projects will go some way towards putting a stop to the stigma around memory loss. If the Imagination Café helps just one person to face dementia with a bit more confidence, support and the knowledge they are not alone, it has been completely worthwhile.
Professor Tischler said:
I was inspired to create The Imagination Café after seeing artwork made by people with dementia as part of the Dementia and Imagination project. The art was not made to be exhibited but some of it is very accomplished and interesting. I thought that if it were framed and exhibited in a pop-up setting, many people may be surprised that someone with dementia could be creative, producing artwork that is complex, intriguing, or even beautiful.
David Patterson, Curatorial and Conservation Manager, City Art Centre said:
The City Art Centre is delighted to welcome The Imagination Café to Edinburgh in September. The work of the cafe builds on our own community outreach work, and on an existing partnership we have with Scottish Opera in which music is used to engage with those living with dementia. It is difficult to underestimate the value of what is being done by innovative projects such as these, so if we can play a small part in raising awareness of the huge benefits of art and other forms of creative practice, then it will have been well worth it.
During 2018, the Imagination Café has been at MOSTYN, Wales, the Menier Gallery, London, and will be at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh.