By Allie Weiner | Administrative Assistant, Cedar Village Foundation
Opening Minds through Art (OMA) is an award winning, collaborative, intergenerational art program for people with dementia between Cedar Village and the Scripps Gerontology School at Miami University. OMA is founded on the fact that people with dementia are capable of expressing themselves creatively and is grounded in person-centered ethics to build bridges across age and cognitive barriers through art.
OMA is most often implemented in small group sessions where the resident is paired with volunteers and/or staff members who have been trained to promote social engagement, autonomy, and dignity of people with dementia through creative self-expression. These volunteers or staff members work on a one-to-one basis with the residents to build close relationships with people with dementia. The art making sessions culminate in a gallery exhibition, with the artists, their families, and the volunteers/ staff members celebrating their accomplishments while educating the public about the creative capacities of people with dementia through artwork.
OMA received a Best Practices Award from LeadingAge Ohio (2011); was recognized as a Program of Distinction by Generations United (2015); and is listed as a Quality Improvement Project by Ohio Department of Aging (2015).
Your donation will help purchase art supplies for our talented artists.
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