Manchester Camerata Presents Dementia Voices: A Wellcome Trust Programme Raising Awareness of Young Onset Dementia

Over 18 months, younger people living with dementia, musicians and theatre makers from Greater Manchester are collaborating on an ambitious programme of creative enquiry into the lived experience and current research around young onset dementia.

Young Onset Dementia is a term given to a person diagnosed with a dementia before the age of 65. It’s a condition which effects nearly 50,000 people in the UK (Alzheimer’s Society, 2014) but has received relatively little attention in terms of appropriate care or support.

There are over 100 different dementias which effect each person differently, but a dementia can cause significant distinctive issues for those who are diagnosed at a younger age.

Manchester Camerata aims to raise awareness of this issue by bringing together younger people living with dementia, health professionals, academics, and world-class artists to co-create a series of unique performances which share powerful insights into the journey of young onset dementia. The performances will be shared in cultural venues across Greater Manchester in 2019 through partnerships with local groups.

Discussions after each performance will consider how to act upon the important messages to make a change to people’s lives on a local and national level.

Manchester Camerata has been developing a person-centered approach to collaborating with people living with dementia over the last six years. A research partnership with the University of Manchester has captured the outcomes of this specific approach to music-making, which has been disseminated nationally and internationally through arts and health conferences, journals and training partnerships with other organisations.

This project is supported by the Wellcome Trust’s Public Engagement Fund, which enables individuals and organisations to use creative approaches in engaging the public with health research.

Details of the performances will be published on the Camerata in the Community events page shortly.