The term ‘co-creativity’ is enjoying a moment in the spotlight. However, it remains ill-defined and lacks conceptual or theoretical underpinnings. Above all, co-creativity has rarely been considered in connection with the arts and people living with a dementia.
This interactive presentation started with a brief overview of With All – a ten-week co-creative arts project with and for people with a dementia (part of the Created Out of Mind Residency at Wellcome). With All focused on using the non-verbal arts (music and dance) in an aesthetic process of mutual creation. The audience then took part in a co-creative session to reflect on this together – using some of the research tools that characterised the With All project. The presentation concluded by outlining some of the reasons that the co-creative arts are particularly effective for people with a dementia and considered the challenges involved in co-creative endeavours with people with a dementia.
For more information about the work of With All, please see this recently published article:
Hannah Zeilig, Julian West, Millie van der Byl Williams, (2018) Co-creativity: possibilities for using the arts with people with a dementia, Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, https://doi.org/10.1108/QAOA-
Please watch the video below for an introduction to With All's workshop.