Dementia Arts ― Celebrating Creativity in Elder Care

Based on the Alzheimer's Poetry Project, this book shows caregivers how they can incorporate the arts into their care of people with dementia, Although there is a strong focus on poetry, the book also incorporates other arts as well - performance art, sculpture, music, movement, and improv. Readers do not need to worry about being "poets", as Gary offers many techniques and tips, from methods of delivery like call and response, to carrying a crib sheet with you unitil you are able to memorize some lines. The book includes chapters on international and intergenerational programming as well as information for at-home caregivers and people looking to start communit-based dementia art programs.In Gary's work he has seen people with late state dementia without high verbal skills be able to communicate through poetry. The book touches on working with people with challenging behaviors as well as how to use poetry in group settings and in ADLs.

Gary Glazner is the founder and Executive Director of the Alzheimer's Poetry Project (APP). NBC's Today show and NPR's Weekend Edition, Voice of America, and New Zealand National Radio have all featured segments on the APP. These broadcasts and news stories have reached over 20 million people and have helped keep the issue of quality, innovative care for people living with Alzheimer's disease in the public's mind. Harper Collins, W.W. Norton and Salon.com have published his work. Glazner was the Managing Director of Bowery Arts and Science, the non-profit wing of the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City, 2007 to 2010.His poetry performances have been featured on CNN, NPR and underwater on the Bay Area Rapid Transit System. Glazner was the poet-in-residence and coach of the Percission Poetry Drill Team at Desert Academy in Santa Fe, 2005-06. He edited the “Word Art: Poetry Broadside Series,” at the Palace of the Governors Museum, where he learned to set type and crank the old printing presses. He is the author of Ears on Fire: Snapshot Essays in a World of Poets published on La Alameda Press. The book chronicles a year abroad in Asia and Europe meeting poets, working on translations and writing poems. Glazner is the author of How to Make a Living as a Poet on Soft Skull Press.Glazner along with co-producer Don McIver were the winners of the 2004 Special Merit Award from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, for “The Poetry of Vietnam,” which was broadcast on KUNM in Albuquerque. Glazner was the host of “Poetry Talk,” on KSFR in Santa Fe, 2005-07. In 1990, Glazner produced the first National Poetry Slam in San Francisco.