FSU’s Opening Minds through Art (FSU-OMA) Program will celebrate its first anniversary this month. The program promotes autonomy and dignity through opportunities for creative self-expression and social engagement for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
The two-part celebration includes a showcase and a workshop.
The FSU-OMA program will showcase accomplishments from its inaugural year, featuring work from artists living with dementia and their intern partners from 10-11:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 4, at the Claude Pepper Center. Attendees can meet some of the artists and interns, hear about the program’s first year highlights and view the artwork gallery.
The workshop will take place from 10 a.m.-noon, Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Claude Pepper Center, offering an art-making event for those in the community to experience an OMA art project. Attendees will be guided through the art-making process, and the result will be an art piece they can take home. Attendees are asked to sign-up for the workshop in advance.
The Claude Pepper Center launched Opening Minds through Art (OMA) at FSU in September 2023 as the only university-based OMA program in the southern United States. During the program, student interns are trained by an OMA facilitator to learn about dementia, practical communication and creative facilitation skills. As creative facilitators, the student interns are paired with an older adult living with dementia and form close, one-on-one relationships with them.
“I am so proud of the profound impact that the FSU-OMA program has had on student interns and volunteers who have developed critical skills built through meaningful relationships with adults with dementia,” said Dawn Carr, director of the Claude Pepper Center. “The beautiful art that emerges through this program provides a window into the way older adults can uniquely leverage creativity and cognitive strengths despite navigating dementia. The one-on-one time the student interns have with older adults through FSU-OMA is invaluable, inspiring many FSU interns to pursue careers in aging.”
The center’s program works with two different assisted living facilities in Tallahassee to bring weekly art sessions to people living with dementia.
OMA at FSU has trained 66 FSU students, including undergraduates in sociology, public health and psychology, and graduate students studying law and medicine.
To learn more about the FSU-OMA program, visit claudepeppercenter.fsu.edu/opening-minds-through-art.