Grantees
and Partners

Overview:

In Arts & Minds programs, people with dementia and their caregivers visit museums, view and discuss artworks on view and then participate in an art making activity. Participating in a group activity helps lower stigma and reduce isolation and depression for both the patient and the caregiver. It is well understood that group activities that stimulate different parts of the brain are important for people suffering from dementia. Founded by a clinical neurologist and a museum educator, Arts & Minds uses a multidisciplinary approach to address quality of life for people living with dementia through engagement with art.

Dementia can be a highly stigmatizing and isolating disease. Symptoms range from mild to severe and can affect a person’s cognitive abilities including memory and learning, as well as feelings, behaviors, relationships. Research has shown that arts programming can help address issues of stigma, break down isolation for caregivers and patients, and provide important stimulation and activity.

Grant:

Purpose: To support museum-based programs for people with dementia and their caregivers.

Arts & Minds partners with 10 museums and cultural institutions to provide 150 programs annually in New York City in English and Spanish. Some of the cultural partners include Studio Museum in Harlem, El Museo del Barrio, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Museum of the City of New York. The organization also provides training in program development and implementation at the Bard Graduate Center, the Smithsonian Institution, Cooper Hewitt and the United States Botanic Garden, and at other museums internationally.

Impact:

Arts & Minds has prioritized providing more accessibility to programs for Spanish-speaking communities in NYC. Since the Illumination Fund began its support, the organization has launched Arts & Minds en Español at the Met and El Museo del Barrio. They also launched a new video, in English and Spanish, aiding the enrollment of new participants and their caregivers.

With the pandemic, people with dementia and their care partners have looked to Arts & Minds @home|Arts & Minds en casa, their home-based virtual programs of art dialogue and art making, for expanded social contact and creativity. In 2021, Arts & Minds provided 169 programs to more than 1,500 total participants, a third of whom are Spanish-speakers. Arts & Minds collaborated with 28 community partners, including RAIN, Sunnyside Senior Service, Riverdale Senior Service, CaringKind, and Neighborhood Shopp, to bring effective and accessible programming to communities across the City.

In 2023 Arts & Minds:

• Conducted more than 179 public programs, online and in person, for approximately 1,534 participants, averaging 12 programs per month. Of those, four per month were conducted in Spanish (Arts & Minds en Español) by native speakers – artists, art historians, and educators. Museum partners include: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio, Studio Museum in Harlem, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Jewish Museum, and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.
• Facilitated an additional 65 community partnership and outreach programs serving an additional 307 participants.
• Advanced Engaging A&M, A&M’s online resource and training program to share its methodology beyond its NYC network