Breaking bread: a dementia awareness café – a theatre installation for dementia awareness

ABSTRACT

Breaking Bread: A Dementia Awareness Café was a theatre installation held on the forecourt of a busy city café in regional Victoria. The aim of the work was to reduce the fear and stigma associated with dementia by engaging an audience in an imaginative, participatory artwork, which challenged prejudice inherent within a medical term used to diagnose dementia. Included in the installation was the Loss and Nourishment Book, a collection of edited interviews with people experiencing the effects of dementia. The installation was successful in attracting a large and diverse audience, and in fostering conversation about dementia in a non-threatening manner.

KEYWORDS:

• Dementia
• awareness
• theatre
• installation
• diagnostics

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all the people who worked to bring this project into being. Eliza-Jane Gilchrist and Rilke Laycock who made the work, Tim Preston and Helen Read production managers, Frank Veldez and Joe Robinson on construction. Artist Sarah Tomasetti for the creation of the Loss and Nourishment Book, and ceramicist Phil Elson for the bowl that held the fresh bread rolls. Laurie Whelan and team from The Good Loaf, Jude Anderson and Adrian Corbett from Punctum Inc, Leonie Van Eyke for documentation. Ella Bucovaz and Ros Abercrombie from Artlands, Cr Rod Fyffe and the Bendigo City Council, Malcom Sanders and Regional Arts Victoria, Vincent Poisson and Dementia Australia. Special thanks to Val Robins and Joanne Wood from the dementia-specific hostel in Bendigo. I’d like to express my deep appreciation to Will and Bonnie, Trudy and Vivienne, Annie and Esther, Katie and Mick and Jenny and Jim for their participation in the Loss and Nourishment Book.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Pseudonyms are used for the purpose of this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund as provided through Regional Arts Australia, and administered in Victoria by Regional Arts Victoria under Community Grants 2018/2019; Punctum Inc (in-kind support); The Good Loaf Sourdough Bakery and Café (in-kind support); the City of Greater Bendigo under the Community Grants 2017/2018 program.