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The federal program “Local Alliances for People with Dementia” in Germany is celebrating its conclusion on November 2, 2026, in Cologne! The event brings together stakeholders from practice, politics, and civil society to look back on years of successful work and shape the future of the networks. As part of this exciting network, we from the European initiative Memorable will also be participating. What can you expect at the event? Our Project “Memorable” in Focus As part of the event, our partner from Germany, the Institut for Social Infrastructure, is proudly presenting our project Memorable. Our goal is to actively use art and culture to best integrate people with dementia into their local community. The focus is on promoting social participation and increasing well-being. Memorable is a strong international network with partner organizations from Germany, Bulgaria, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Ireland. Target Audience All Local Alliances from the 1st to 5th funding waves of the current federal program and the former federal model program are invited, as well as all other dementia networks and anyone professionally or personally interested.  Join Us! For further information on the exact schedule and program items, please refer to the official event flyer linked on the following website: https://www.netzwerkstelle-demenz.de/veranstaltungen/aktuell/fachtagung-der-netzwerkstelle-in-koeln. The conference language will be German. We look forward to exchanging ideas, inspiring conversations, and presenting our project in Cologne!

The Memorable consortium met in Dublin, Ireland, on 23–24 June 2026 for a transnational project meeting hosted by Dublin City University (DCU). The gathering brought partners together once again, approximately one and a half years after the project’s kick-off meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria. The meeting focused on reviewing project achievements and planning the next stages of implementation. Particular attention was given to two key project outputs: the Memorable e-learning platform and the development of policy recommendations aimed at supporting dementia-friendly practices within the cultural and artistic sectors. The consortium reviewed the substantial progress achieved in developing the content for the e-learning platform. The training materials are based on evidence gathered through national reports, desk research, stakeholder interviews, and co-creation activities conducted in all participating countries. This collaborative work has provided valuable insights into the current state of artistic and cultural institutions in delivering dementia-friendly activities and engaging people living with dementia. The findings are now being translated into practical learning resources that will support cultural professionals in creating more inclusive and accessible environments. It was also discussed the development of the accessible e-learning platform, ensuring that the project’s knowledge and evidence are transformed into engaging and user-friendly training materials tailored to the needs of staff working in cultural and artistic institutions. The policy recommendations, another key output of the Memorable project, are also underway, with a first draft being developed based on partners’ inputs. This will later be refined into a shorter version tailored for policymakers, while an extended version will also be available, providing full context on the evidence and process behind the recommendations. The sustainability of the project was also extensively discussed, and it was agreed that a stakeholder mapping, based on a value flow model, will guide the next steps. This will help ensure that all Memorable outputs are properly disseminated and further activities are effectively planned and implemented. Communication and dissemination were also updated, with strong progress highlighted. The meeting also provided an opportunity to strengthen collaboration among partners and celebrate the project’s progress while experiencing Dublin’s rich cultural heritage and welcoming atmosphere. With the next project milestones approaching, the consortium remains focused on delivering impactful resources and recommendations that will help cultural organisations across Europe become more dementia-friendly and inclusive.

The platform is structured around five interconnected modules designed to support cultural professionals in developing more inclusive, informed, and meaningful engagement with people living with dementia. These modules offer both an introduction to key concepts and the opportunity to deepen knowledge and practice in areas such as understanding dementia, inclusive cultural participation, communication approaches, creating supportive environments, designing meaningful experiences, and embedding institutional change. Each partner initially led the development of one module, which has now gone through a peer-review process. The content will also be further revised collaboratively by all partners, followed by a harmonisation phase to ensure a coherent, accessible, and high-quality learning experience. The e-learning is designed for professionals working in museums, galleries, and wider cultural venues, including educators, curators, learning and engagement teams, front-of-house staff, cultural programmers, as well as managers and policy leads. In the coming months, the platform will continue to be refined, and by the end of the year it will be tested and validated with end-users, allowing for final improvements based on their feedback.

In five articles on LinkedIn, partner organisations involved in the Memorable project have shared the key outcomes of their national project work, reflecting on how cultural participation can enhance well-being, social inclusion, and visibility for people living with dementia. The article written by the Bulgarian project partner highlights the strong potential of cultural activities in fostering participation and emotional connection. However, it also points to the lack of structural support and targeted training needed to make such approaches sustainable. The article about Portugal frames dementia as a growing societal challenge, demonstrating that cultural inclusion can only succeed if barriers relating to access, awareness, and infrastructure are systematically addressed. The article published by the German partner summarises the main findings of their Memorable project activities, emphasising that cultural participation can enhance identity, social engagement, and quality of life for people with dementia. The Dutch partners emphasise the close link between culture and wellbeing in their article, demonstrating that dementia-friendly cultural practice requires flexibility, awareness-raising and strong institutional cooperation. Finally, the Irish article illustrates how dementia-friendly cultural programmes in museums, libraries, and community arts spaces can support communication, belonging, and meaningful social interaction for people living with dementia and their carers. A shared way forward All five articles convey a common message: cultural participation is a key element of quality of life and social inclusion for people living with dementia. At the same time, joint efforts are needed to remove barriers and create more inclusive cultural offerings. These contributions are encouraging. They present concrete local perspectives and emphasise the importance of translating these experiences into shared learning formats, training opportunities and resources — exactly what the Memorable consortium is currently developing. The articles can be found here:

The co-creation sessions carried out as part of the Memorable project provided critical insight into how a dementia-inclusive cultural engagement curriculum can be both meaningful and practically effective. Bringing together cultural practitioners, artists, formal and informal carers, and people with lived experience, the sessions were designed to test, challenge, and refine the emerging curriculum through real-world perspectives. Analysis of the co-created discussions confirmed strong support for a values-led, experiential, and adaptable curriculum across cultural settings. Participants highlighted the importance of focusing on emotional connection, sensory engagement, and storytelling rather than on clinical or deficit-based approaches. The need for clear facilitation guidance, realistic delivery expectations, and sensitivity to institutional contexts emerged consistently across partner countries. The analysis also revealed that the curriculum is particularly well-suited to cultural institutions and professional settings, where structured support, staff training, and organisational commitment can be aligned. While informal carers valued the content, they emphasised the need for simplified pathways and additional supports if elements are to be used outside institutional environments. Importantly, the co-creation process was identified as a project strength. Participants reported that being involved in shaping the curriculum increased confidence, ownership, and relevance, while also surfacing shared challenges across countries and sectors. This collaborative approach helped to ensure that the curriculum reflects diverse cultural realities and can be adapted without losing its core principles. Overall, the co-creation process strengthened the Memorable curriculum by grounding it in lived experience, clarifying its primary audiences, and ensuring it remains practical, inclusive, and transferable, thereby supporting cultural institutions in engaging people living with dementia with dignity, creativity, and care.

The Memorable Project has published its first newsletter, marking an important milestone in the project’s journey towards fostering a more dementia-friendly society. The newsletter highlights the key activities carried out during the project’s first year, including research and stakeholder interviews, co-creation sessions, and inspiring examples of dementia-friendly cultural practices featured in the European Compendium of Dementia-Friendly Cultural Practices, alongside other relevant project updates.  The newsletter is now available online and can be accessed here: https://memorable-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Memorable_Newsletter-1.pdf

In October and November, the Memorable project held two online co-creation sessions in Ireland with carers, cultural staff, programme managers and artists. Eight participants shared professional and lived experience to help shape a new dementia-inclusive online training programme. Designed as participatory workshops, the sessions positioned participants as co-creators, reviewing draft modules and discussing how to make the training engaging, accessible and meaningful. Discussions strongly emphasised person-centred approaches, dignity, empathy and the importance of non-stigmatising language grounded in real human experience. Carers’ perspectives were central, highlighting the value of lived experience, personalisation of cultural activities, and active involvement of carers and people living with dementia in programme design. Participants also encouraged looking beyond museums to include community spaces, outdoor and rural contexts, and realistic, low-cost adaptations of existing environments. For the online platform, participants favoured flexible, bite-sized learning combined with reflective pathways, interactive but accessible tools, and evaluation methods focused on reflection and confidence rather than testing alone. Overall, the sessions confirmed that dementia-inclusive training must be practical, person-centred and context-aware. These insights are now directly informing the refinement of the Memorable curriculum and platform.

On December 5th, the Bulgarian co-creation workshop for the Memorable project was held in Sofia. The event brought together museum specialists, carers for people with dementia, and a professional working with people with dementia (musical therapist). Within the 90-minute session, the participants shared their opinions and ideas regarding the planned modules for the Memorable curriculum, providing valuable information for future work on the project.The museum specialists highlighted their need for educational materials on dementia, as well as specific challenges they may face in their work. All participants agreed that cooperation between cultural institutions, carers, municipalities, and other stakeholders is vital in order to provide the most positive and useful experience possible for people with dementia. A particular challenge that was mentioned during the session was community outreach and how cultural institutions could raise awareness of the services they may provide for people with dementia.The feedback from the sessions in all partner countries will now be analysed by the Memorable consortium. The results will be used for the co-creation of an e-Learning platform and trainer manual with meaningful and beneficial content for learners.

On 25 November, the German co-creation workshop of the Memorable project took place online. Over the course of two hours, four experienced female professionals from residential care contributed their expertise to the planned learning objectives, making an important contribution to the further development of the training materials. The participants shared valuable experiences from their daily work and highlighted the importance of cultural participation for people living with dementia – both for their well-being and for their sense of autonomy and social inclusion. They also openly discussed how feelings of shame, uncertainty, anxiety, and a lack of knowledge about the effects of cultural activities or about available cultural and organisational support services often act as barriers that prevent family carers from engaging in cultural activities. In addition, the care professionals contributed numerous concrete suggestions: How can family members be encouraged to make use of cultural offers? Which design elements help create cultural spaces in which people with dementia feel safe, addressed, and welcome? Ideas ranged from low-threshold communication and support offers to spatial adaptations and fostering a sensitive, respectful atmosphere. The insights gained provide an important contribution to the ongoing co-creation of the Memorable curriculum and support the development of learning materials that are practical, realistic, and aligned with the actual needs of care professionals and staff working in cultural institutions.

On 20 November, Inês Saavedra from SHINE 2Europe represented the Memorable consortium at the 45º Congresso Português de Geriatria e Gerontologia in Lisbon. The presentation highlighted the consortium’s work in co-creating a curriculum specifically designed for professionals in arts and cultural institutions. The aim of the curriculum is to equip these professionals with the tools needed to make their institutions more inclusive for people living with dementia and to design activities tailored to this audience. The presentation also outlined the methodology, which involved desk research, interviews with informal caregivers, people living with dementia, and experts in psychology, dementia, arts, and cultural institutions. The team is now analysing the results from co-creation sessions conducted across all consortium countries: Portugal, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Germany, and Ireland, which will inform the refinement of both the curriculum and related policy recommendations. The presentation highlighted findings from the Portuguese research, emphasising the relevance of existing good practices, such as EU no musEU, Marcar o Lugar, and the MiD Network, as well as the barriers faced by professionals, including stigma, limited activities depending on urban or rural contexts, and the need for training in understanding dementia and ageing, effective communication strategies, raising awareness of stigma, person-centred methodologies, and adapting spaces using universal design principles. At a congress primarily focused on gerontology, it was especially valuable to highlight the role of non-pharmacological interventions, demonstrating how the Memorable project leverages art and culture as a means to enhance the well-being and quality of life of people living with dementia.