Living Dementia Differently
What We've Learnt Together So Far
image credit: Jen HollandCreating cultural change
Since 2024, Bright Shadow has gathered nearly 700 data points from people living with and affected by dementia about what our community needs, alongside facilitating collaboration with artists, researchers and healthcare professionals to craft innovative responses to these needs. These findings demonstrate the measurable positive impact of high-quality, multi-art form creative programming for people living with and affected by dementia.
Building on this evidence, we are publishing three articles exploring Living Dementia Differently through:
- The relationship between Bright Shadow’s pioneering creative methodology, our impact and the latest arts and health research
- Insights from Bright Shadow’s Open Forums, exploring what we heard from people living with and affected by dementia about creating meaningful cultural change
- A Campfire Conversation bringing together people living with and affected by dementia, artists and sector leaders across arts and health to explore creativity and wellbeing
As Dawn Horne, NHS Dementia Envoy, Bright Shadow participant, trustee, and author of Dawn’s Dementia Field Guide, told us: “Bright Shadow saved my life. It made me realise I could say yes to things.”
Bright Times: A new publication led by people with dementia
Out of this work comes Bright Times: an NHS-backed creative news initiative led by people living with dementia. Through collaboration with journalists, writers and artists, Bright Times will grow into a regularly published community news outlet modelling peer-led social prescribing. Initially distributed across East Kent and online, Bright Times will share meaningful, community-rooted stories and highlight dementia-positive practices.
Offering a portal into a bold, creative, dementia-positive community, as well as signposting activities and redefining what it means to live well with dementia, Bright Times aims to shift perceptions and inspire cultural change around our treatment of people living with dementia. To find out more about Bright Times and follow the journey of its budding citizen journalists, sign up to our newsletter.
Read our Living Dementia Differently articles here:
Download a summary of our latest insights: