Projects

Welcome to this collection of recent projects with our members and in partnership with creative practitioners and organisations. Here, we are finding ways to bring people with rare dementias and those that care about them together to celebrate and think about different types of cultural activity.

These projects aim to explore important aspects of living, such as the joy of spending time together, learning about cultural heritage, cooking and eating well, expressing yourself through art and crafts and contemplation within our green spaces.

Please select one of the projects below to read more

  • Handwriting in a notebook
    Out of the Ordinary
    Out of the Ordinary is an (unusual) online project led in partnership between Wigmore Hall, the Royal Academy of Music, and Rare Dementia Support The project is part of Wigmore Hall’s Music for Life programme which is an internationally renowned creative music programme for people living with dementia in the community and in care homes. Out of the... continue reading.
  • Photos at the Table
    Evaluating photography and food based activities as part of our cultural programme Photos at the Table is a small service evaluation that grew from observations within RDS activities, where food often became a starting point for spontaneous sharing. In these moments, RDS members brought forward memories, stories, and reflections in their own way. Some sharing carried... continue reading.
  • The Hub, Wellcome Collection. Created Out of Mind collaborators came together on the 10th November for a day to funnel and outline which projects the group will be taking forward and responding to as part of their 22 month Residency. Created Out of Mind collaborators in the space, in discussion.
    Rediscovery
    A monthly creative group for those living with young onset dementia and their carers at Drawing Room gallery, London Join us at Drawing Room gallery in Bermondsey for our creative sessions for those living with young onset dementia and their carers. This is an opportunity to explore materials and themes in the works on display... continue reading.
  • Partnership activities with Sweet Patootee Arts
    Rare Space is working in partnership with Sweet Patootee Arts for their touring exhibition TURNING POINT, a series of four short films inspired by oral histories about the Black Caribbean experience after the First World War. We are currently undertaking a knowledge exchange with community groups, arts venues, football clubs and dementia networks to learn... continue reading.
  • Wetland photo by Geraint Davies
    Partnership with the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust (WWT)
    Nature-based wellbeing activities including walking, ceramics, bird watching, and writing. RDS is partnering with WWT to run a series of activities, engagements and events with RDS members. These activities and events have been linked to the Blue Prescribing Project – a nature-based programme offering the opportunity for people to be active, take notice of wildlife... continue reading.
  • bb and Flow event. Hands playing with a card deck.
    Trellis: Arbor
    The Arbor programme has been created to foster an interdisciplinary approach to creative research, and to create a physical and intellectual space for the development of meaningful artistic, academic and community collaborations. RDS members, artists and researchers from UCL Dementia Research Centre (DRC) took part in the first round of Arbor last year creating innovative... continue reading.
  • Talking Lines drawings and blue pencil, 2023. Image credit: Charlie Harrison / courtesy of UCL Dementia Research Centre & Rare Dementia Support
    Talking Lines
    Stories of diagnosis and support as told by those with lived experience of rarer forms of dementia. Over the past 4 years, an interdisciplinary team of artists, social scientists, neuropsychologists, and people living with or affected by rare dementias have been working together to develop a line-drawing methodology to better understand experiences of rare dementia... continue reading.
  • New Encounters
    Rare Dementia Support (RDS) Canada members, in collaboration with Making Art Making Change (MAMC), recently came together to create New Encounters. New Encounters is a dynamic virtual arts-based rare dementia support group aimed at building supportive connections over conversation, exploring visual art and painting. Storytelling through art brought together a group of people living with... continue reading.
  • Arts for Brain Health Changemakers Panel
    Greengross Arts for Brain Health
    Changemaker Conversation. Thursday 18 January 2024 RDS clinical lead, Prof Seb Crutch and Rare Space co-ordinator Charlie Harrison chaired an informal series of conversations with RDS members and partner organisations as part of this online event. Learn more about the history and motivations for Rare Space, hear lived experiences of creative adaptation and the arts... continue reading.
  • Research Poetry flower photograph
    Research Poetry
    Co-constructed research poetry as a way to understand the lived experiences of people affected by rarer dementia What Does Support Mean to You? The Community Group Poems from People Living with Rarer Dementias, edited by Lawrence Wilson, Facilitating Poet with contributions from 177 people living with rarer forms of dementia and their care-partners Audio Poems... continue reading.
  • Martina_Poppies
    Creativity Club
    In February 2021, Rare Dementia Support launched its first ever Creativity Club which brought together a group of our members to meet online regularly and have a go at some art-based activities. This online arts group explored people, place and friendship during COVID-19. Members of the group were based around the UK and also joined... continue reading.