The Banner Alzheimer's Institute is partnering with the Maricopa Partnership for Arts and Culture to offer a new arts program for our dementia patients.

The Arts Engagement Program will feature two tracks: one for performing arts and the other for visual arts. The performing arts program will include five monthly visits to the Phoenix Symphony's Coffee Classics concert series. The visual arts track will include six 90-minute visits to the Phoenix Art Museum and the Scottsdale Museum for Contemporary Art.

The program will be free to participants and will debut in January.

"Our goal is to make cultural opportunities accessible for people with dementia and their care partners," said Jan Dougherty, RN, director of Family and Community Services for Banner Alzheimer's Institute. "It's a quality of life issue."

The Arts Engagement Program is the first of its kind in Arizona. The initial program will be offered to 90 patients and their caregivers over two years and will be funded with a $35,000 grant from the Pulliam Trust, $10,000 from the Maricopa Partnership for Arts and Culture and $10,000 from Blue Cross Blue Shield.

For information on this program, please call:

Jan Dougherty, (602) 239-6964.