Dementia friendly guided tours at glór

In 2018, glór arts centre in Ennis with Clare Arts Office is introducing regular dementia friendly guided tours to accompany glór’s visual arts programme. The first tour will take place on 14 March.

Inspired by the Azure programme currently running in IMMA, Butler Gallery and other venues nationwide, glór will offer guided exhibition tours specifically designed to support people living with dementia and their family, friends or professional carers, to engage with the art work on show and enjoy a social gallery experience.

Through the programme, people have an opportunity to look at art more closely, in a caring, friendly and social environment, discussing the pieces over tea, coffee and biscuits, and giving their opinions in a non-judgemental setting. This programme explores how people with dementia-related conditions such as Alzheimer’s, and the people who care for them, can have a deeper involvement in cultural institutions and can participate in cultural activities.

Theatre artist Eleanor Feely will facilitate the tours, comprising a brief introductory chat, and discussion of a small selection of artworks in glór’s gallery. Eleanor will give background information about the artists and artworks and there will be plenty of time to take in the works on display at an unhurried pace. Each tour will last approximately 40 minutes and will finish with tea, coffee and biscuits in glór’s café. There is a lift and access for wheelchairs.

Eleanor Feely is a theatre artist who uses strong elements of visual and aural stimuli in her work. She is artist in residence in a care setting in Ennis. Since living in Co. Clare she has created several interdisciplinary projects based on artworks including Memoria, on the concept of time, and At The Still Point of the Turning World, a specially commissioned piece for the Bealtaine Festival.

How to take part

You can take part in the programme by coming to one of the dedicated tours. The first of these tours takes place on Wednesday 14 March from 11am with the exhibition currently in glór’s gallery entitled Modern Ruins and Other Stories, an exhibition of photography by Kenneth O’Halloran.

Modern Ruins and Other Stories will showcase a snapshot of life in rural Clare, poignantly documenting key events in the cycle of life. The exhibition will also feature work from O’Halloran’s acclaimed Handball Alley Series, as well as work from Tales from the Promised Land – a moving series of images documenting Ireland’s building bust and the new landscape left in its wake.

If you would like to take part in these regular tours, please contact Sinéad Cahill on 065 6845370 or gallery@glor.ie

www.glor.ie