“Meet Me at MoMA,” will be featured at the “NCCA-MetLife Foundation Creativity Matters: Health, Wellness & the Arts Symposium” in Washington, D.C., which is being held on March 30, 31 and April 1. The program was developed by The Museum of Modern Art in New York and focuses on using art to promote dialogue among people with dementia and their caregivers.
Francesca Rosenberg, Director of Community and Access Programs, Museum of Modern Art, said, “We have seen through the Museum’s ‘Meet Me at MoMA’ program how visual art offers people who have Alzheimer’s or other dementia an entry for communication and an opportunity for engagement, not only with art, but with their caregivers, loved ones, and society at large.”
The Tuesday, March 31 workshop at the Phillips Collection will feature a presentation by Rosenberg on the “The MoMA Alzheimer’s Project: Making Art Accessible to People with Dementia,” MoMA’s ongoing initiative to expand the “Meet Me at MoMA” program model to museums and healthcare facilities across the nation, made possible by a major grant from MetLife Foundation. She will discuss how to determine the best practices in creating, developing, and implementing art-looking gallery tours and related programming for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers in an art museum setting, in assisted living facilities or at home. Rosenberg will also address how to access resources and training in a museum setting that meet the interests of local communities and how to reach out to communities to raise awareness of the benefits of providing art to individuals with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.
The Wednesday, April 1 workshop will feature on-site training at the Kreeger Museum, led by Rosenberg, Amir Parsa, Laurel Humble, and Carrie McGee, all MoMA staff members. The training will focus on preparation, artwork selection, in-gallery facilitation and interaction, audience dynamic and evaluation. During the session participants will develop their own mini program.
For more information please contact the NCCA office at [email protected] or (202) 895-9456.
The National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA) was founded in 2001 and is dedicated to fostering and understanding of the vital relationship between creative expression and healthy aging and to developing programs that build on this understanding. Based in Washington, DC, NCCA is a nonprofit with 2,500 members and is affiliated with The George Washington University. www.creativeaging.org
MetLife Foundation was established in 1976 by MetLife to carry on its long-standing tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. The Foundation has been involved in a variety of aging-related initiatives addressing issues of caregiving, intergenerational activities, mental fitness, health and wellness programs and civic involvement. For more than 20 years, MetLife and MetLife Foundation have invested more than $17 million for Alzheimer’s research and public information programs, including over $11.5 million through the Awards for Medical Research in Alzheimer’s Disease program. More information about the Foundation is available at www.metlife.org.
