Arts, Disability, Health & Ageing
Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency
The agency runs annual best practice seminars that include examples of creative ageing.
Alzheimer's Association Resource Lists
A list of practical resources, academic articles and research, including a report on the impact of music therapy in Alzheimer's Disease.
Alzheimers Australia – tips for art at home
Alzheimers Australia: Nurturing the Heart – Creativity, Art Therapy and Dementia
Arts for All Ability
A program run by Arts Nexus in far North Queensland.
Arts Health Research Centre University of Newcastle
Brings together the research of academics and PHD students in the creative arts with those of academics in the social sciences, sciences, humanities, education, architecture and medicine to focus on studies that investigate and promote community health and public and community-based arts and the development of culturally rich, sustainable and social environments.
Art of difference
Melbourne’s arts and disability festival.
Arts Project Australia
Workshops, exhibitions and development for visual artists with an intellectual disability. Based in Victoria.
ATOD - Australian Theatre of the Deaf
ATOD is a bilingual company using Auslan (Australian Sign Language) and English to produce a wide variety of theatre.
Awakenings Festival
Regional arts and disability festival held in Horsham, Victoria.
Axis Dance Company
Axis Dance Company, an acclaimed ensemble of performers with and without disabilities, is a jewel of contemporary dance and disability culture. AXIS' list of collaborators reads like a Who's Who of contemporary dance. AXIS' unparalleled education program Dance Access offers events for adults and youth of all abilities locally and on tour.
Based in Geelong, Back to Back is Australia’s only theatre company with a full-time ensemble of actors considered to have an intellectual disability.
Centre for International Mental Health
Communication and the Care of People with Dementia (England) Dementia Positive
Extensive work using creativity to communicate with people with dementia and carers. Other publications also listed on the site include The Arts and Dementia Care a Resource Guide (for the USA Center for Creative Aging).
Choir of Hard Knocks
Former Opera Australia Tenor Jonathon grew this choir which is made up of diverse and eclectic individuals who responded to a call to form a community street choir. Their journey was recorded and broadcast by the ABC touching the lives of millions of viewers.
Creativity and Aging: Best Practices (National Endowment for the Arts)
National Endowment for the Arts publication of model creative projects having an impact on dementia, quality of life and physical health of older Americans.
The Creativity and Aging Study (National Endowment for the Arts)
Landmark creativity and aging study measuring the impact of professionally conducted community based cultural programs on general health, mental health and social activities of people over 65 years. The results demonstrate true health promotion and disease prevention effects. The study also demonstrated that community based cultural programs for older adults appear to reduce risk factors driving the need for long-term care.
Creativity Explored
Based in San Francisco, Creativity Explored is nonprofit visual arts center where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit, and sell art.
Club Wild is an arts and community building organisation run by and for people with disabilities to provide training and creative workshops across a range of subjects including songwriting, video making, rapping, and event management.
Creativity and Social Inclusion project – Griffith University QLD
Explores ideas about the value of creativity as a means of engendering social inclusion.
Creativity Matters: the Arts and Aging Toolkit
A resource that explains how and why older adults benefit from professionally run community arts programs. It offers detailed advice and examples on program design, implementation and evaluation.
Dance and older people
Older participants in dance activities have a significant and positive improvement in physical health linked to decreased falls and increased bone density. Dance activities have been demonstrated to improve emotional wellbeing. One study compared dance to other forms of physical exercise and found dance was the only physical activity associated with a lower risk of dementia.
Disability Arts Inclusion Initiative WA
In June 2006 the Department of Culture and the Arts was approached by the Disability Services Commission to form a partnership with the aim of enabling people with disabilities to access and experience positive connections to everyday community life through arts and cultural activities.
Disability Arts Online (UK)
Disability Arts Online presents quality disability arts practice for critical analysis and debate.
Disability Businesses offering Arts and Craft Services
Engaged Ageing (USA)
An approach to creative and healthy aging for senior residents in Southern California.
Fog Theatre
Fog Theatre is a Melbourne based drama group for people with a disability.
High Beam
South Australia’s arts and disability festival.
International Guild of Disabled Artists and Performers
An international collective of artists and performers who identify as having a disability or impairment.
Junction House
Junction House provides recreational and educational services for adults with mild intellectual disabilities living in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.
Karingallery
Karingal provides opportunities and access for people with a disability or disadvantage to live as independent and equal members of the community.
Lost Generation WA
This project is a result of the unique partnership between Disability in the Arts Disadvantage in the Arts and the WA Disability Services Commission (DSC). The project provides social and cultural inclusion opportunities for residents of DSC’s Accommodation Services Directorate.
Lifelong Learning, the Arts and Older People
Scottish Arts Council research into the arts and older people (defined as over 50) found that participation in the arts led to a growth in personal confidence, community interaction and economic opportunities. The benefits to older people with particular health issues like dementia or stroke are substantial and the arts are very often the ‘key’ to unlocking memory, arresting depression and anxiety, improving communication between individuals and having fun.
MADE Dance Theatre began with the support of IS Theatre Ltd through the Emerging Artists Tasmania program in June 2005. Its objectives include providing positive performance experiences and training for mature adults in an inclusive environment.
Making Creativity Intrinsic to Care (Ireland)
Participation in Music, Dance and Visual Art is linked to improved wellbeing. In particular this program trained staff working with older people in care and improved the staff members awareness of residents needs.
Music and DementiaAn Arts Council of England research report reviewing the medical literature in arts and healthcare included specific studies into music (both listening and creating) and dementia. These studies found that music activities could increase patients social functioning, decrease stress, increase willingness to participate in routine activities, stimulate long term memory and improve relationships between staff and patients.
The National Center for Creative Aging
NCCA is dedicated to fostering an understanding of the vital relationship between creative expression and the quality of life of older people. Creative expression is important for older people of all cultures and ethnic backgrounds, regardless of economic status, age, or level of physical, emotional, or cognitive functioning.
National Institute of Art & Disabilities (USA)
Provides an art program that promotes creativity, independence and community integration for people with developmental and other disabilities.
National USA Resource Center for Blind Musicians
Nossal Institute for Global Health
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Rawcus
An ensemble of performers with and without disabilities.
Restless Dance Company
Restless Dance present professional dance theatre that is informed by cultures of disability and is created through inclusive collaborative processes.
Seeing Beyond Sight
US based photography by blind teenagers.
Stepping Forward Project
DADAA's Stepping Forward Project in Western Australia brings together young people with and without disabilities together, to explore and collaborate on contemporary arts projects.
Sins Invalid (USA)
A San Francisco based performance company which explores themes of sexuality, embodiment and the disabled body.
Society for Dementia Care WA
An affiliate of the Canadian Society for Dementia Care running creative programs in and around Perth.
Theatre Breaking Through Barriers
Based in New York, Theatre Breaking Through Barriers develop blind and low vision talent for the theater, television and film.
Tutti Ensemble
South Australia's Tutti Ensemble is recognised by the Australia Council for the Arts as a Key Producer of high quality original music-theatre and opera.
University of California San Francisco’s Center for Memory and Aging
Dr. Bruce Miller, the Centre’s Director, has become renowned for work in the field of art and dementia. The center’s research findings include instances of dementia unlocking new creative abilities and creativity being used as an effective tool to increase communication between patients and family members.
USA Creativity Matters: Arts and Ageing Tool Kit
UK Arts for Health: Manchester Metropolitan University
UK Invest to save arts and health evaluation
UK Veterans Reunited Program: To celebrate the 60th anniversary of WWII the Veterans Reunited Program involved over 11 million people in a range of cultural programs. The evaluation report provides evidence of the Intrinsic Value and Intangible impacts of culture alongside personal and social impact.
UK Veterans Reunited Program: To celebrate the 60th anniversary of WWII the Veterans Reunited Program involved over 11 million people in a range of cultural programs. The evaluation report provides evidence of the Intrinsic Value and Intangible impacts of culture alongside personal and social impact.
