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Modern Art Accessible To People with Early Stage Dementia

“Meet Me at MoMa is an interactive tour designed to make modern art accessible to people with early-stage dementia and their caregivers.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Manhattan launched the program in ’06 and 1,300 people have already participated.

“What’s nice is that a piece of art doesn’t require any memory,” says Francesca Rosenberg, MoMA’s director of community and access programs. “It’s right in front of you.”

The special tours take place on a day when the museum is closed to the public. The quiet may help people with dementia stay focused and access memories.

“Alzheimer’s affects recent memory first. Only in the later stages does it begin to erase memory laid down long ago,” according to Marilyn Albert, an Alzheimer’s expert at John’s Hopkins University. “The program at the MoMA draws on that long-term memory, and that probably makes people on the tour feel more confident.”

The museum plans to bring interactive art-appreciation programs to other museums and to nursing homes. The museum will finance the project with a two-year $450,000 grant from the MetLife Foundation.

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