Text

In Singapore, arts engagements in community care centres are often arts and craft activities with an emphasis on individual task completion over creative expression and social interaction. To elevate the quality of such engagements, National Gallery Singapore (Gallery) partnered with All Saints Home (ASH) to pilot Art with You (AWY), the Gallery’s evidence-based programme that promotes self-expression for people living with dementia, in an ASH care centre.

Between June to November 2025, the Gallery trained 7 ASH staff in art appreciation and group facilitation skills used in museum-based programmes. The staff took turns to facilitate one AWY session per week over 10 weeks for 8 consistent clients living with moderate to severe dementia at the centre.

Bradford Wellbeing Profile monitored the overall well-being of the participants and qualitative formative evaluation assessed each staff’s quality of facilitation. While Bradford Wellbeing showed positive increase, the staff assessment reported three outcomes that contribute to their delivery of care:

1. professional development through new skills gained,
2. recognition of clients’ potential for creative expression, and
3. increased interest and confidence in working with visual art.

This pilot offers a blueprint on how museums, through close partnership with service providers, can play a valuable role in community care services. Museums have untapped resources in the form of its art collection and can serve as a knowledge and skills partner in arts-based engagements. Such partnerships can only succeed when grounded in a culturally nuanced understanding of the needs and constraints faced by community care staff.