Raising the curtain: At the intersection of education, art, health care and lived experience of dementia

The chapter, "Raising the curtain: at the intersection of education, art, health care and lived experience of dementia" was written by the listed authors including Colleen Reid (Douglas College Faculty). This chapter uses the case study of Raising the Curtain (RTC), a community based participatory research project (CBPR), to explore the opportunities and insights that resulted from an education – arts – health care collaboration. RTC occurred in a long-term care facility located in rural British Columbia and was a collaboration between researchers, artists, health care workers, and people with lived experience of dementia. The project’s goals were to: (1) increase understandings of the lived experience of dementia by highlighting the sociocultural constructions of the disease; (2) uncover innovative strategies for building an education – art – health care collaboration; and (3) spawn creative and innovative approaches to participation, engagement and advocacy for individuals with lived experience of dementia. Insights gained from RTC point to the promise of integrating creative and social justice-oriented community engagement into leisure practice. Ultimately RTC created a ‘third space’ – one that achieved a true nexus between education, art, and health care – and provided a vision for advancing leisure practice in the context of dementia-care in a long-term care (LTC) facility. --From publisher description.