Dementia Spring highlights a new artist every week through our Dementia Arts Spotlight Series. We provide annual grants to artists and arts organizations through our Dementia Arts Impact Awards. Our Dementia Arts Celebration brings together the artistic and dementia communities to celebrate the impact that the visual and performing arts can have on the lives of those with dementia, their families, and caregivers.
Dementia is one of the most important public health imperatives of our age, affecting 1 in 3 persons over 85 today and is estimated to affect 14 million adults by 2050. As awareness and community resources have increased, people with dementia are able to live with meaning and dignity in a way that was unimaginable in decades past.
Visual and performing artists have now begun telling the stories of people with dementia, and therapeutic arts programs have been shown to improve the quality of life for both patients and families struggling to manage the disease. Unfortunately, both of these artistic avenues are woefully underfunded, and their reach is often too narrow.
With this in mind, the Dementia Spring Foundation was founded in 2020 by Marc and Sisi Rothman of Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Marc is a physician and healthcare executive with expertise in older adults, dementia, and end-of-life care. Sisi is a bookbinder, paper conservator, and amateur photographer. Both of their lives – personally and professionally – have been deeply affected by dementia, and they have seen the power of the visual and performing arts in action with friends and family alike.
Our focus for 2023 is our new Artist Spotlight series which features an artist working on Dementia every week, on our website redesign which went live this past winter, and working with our 2021 and 2022 Impact Award recipients to complete and expand upon their projects and reach a larger audience.
We support visual and performing artists who raise awareness about dementia, and inspire creativity in people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.
We recognize creativity and curiosity as fundamental drivers of collaboration between the arts and dementia communities.
We engage with and support our partners in their creative journey and we treat participants, donors and each other with respect.
Dementia affects people of all ethnic, racial and economic backgrounds. Dementia Spring is for everyone, equitably. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are at the core of what we do. From the patients we celebrate to the art and artists we inspire, the medical jargon we untangle and our work and workplace, we strive to reflect the diverse worlds of dementia and the arts.
“The Dementia Spring Foundation is a bridge between the dementia and arts communities. We fund artists and arts organizations doing original and programmatic work with the dementia community, we raise awareness, and we inspire creativity and joy among people with dementia.”
“The Dementia Spring Foundation is a bridge between the dementia and arts communities. We fund artists and arts organizations doing original and programmatic work with the dementia community, we raise awareness, and we inspire creativity and joy among people with dementia.”
“The Dementia Spring Foundation is a bridge between the dementia and arts communities. We fund artists and arts organizations doing original and programmatic work with the dementia community, we raise awareness, and we inspire creativity and joy among people with dementia.”
Are you an artist or arts organization? Join Dementia Spring
Dementia Spring is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
