I was among a few hundred persons who attended the 3/25/2011 annual fundraising breakfast for the Alzheimer’s Association. The “Memories Through Art” program was new to me.

Ellie Galloway is a caregiver who told about providing art tools to her loved – art tools that helped bring back memories of flowers in Hawaii and her horse named Bud. The cover of the “Reasons to Hope” program featured three of the artworks.

I sat next to VMFA Director Alex Nyerges who informed me that the “Memories Through Art” program had originated at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art and that the VMFA had been the first other museum to pilot it. The program has proven to be a success with Alzheimers; it improves quality of life and quality of caregiving.
The arts: vitality tools for so many important things in our lives.