The value of professional artists

Susanna Howard (Living Words) and Elly Wilson Wickenden (Creative Arts East) highlight the pivotal role that professional artists can have in arts-based practices for people living with dementia.

Hear as they explain how artists sometimes possess a unique set of skills that facilitate those that they work with to express themselves, without creating a sense of being wrong – which is often liberating for those living with dementia.

Note from Moderator: This step it isn’t here to discourage anyone from giving creative and artistic activities a try and the video often brings up plenty of healthy discussion about whether you need to be a professional artist to bring these valuable skill sets. What do you think?

CREDITS We would like to thank the individuals affected by dementia and Living Words (image credits: Living Words / Alex Rumford) for providing the supplementary images featured in the first block of this video. We would also like to thank Creative Arts East for providing supplementary images featured in the second block of this video (image credits: Anita Staff Photograph/ Our Day Out).