2021-04-20

Reflection on “The Forgotten Orchestra” by Foton Expertise Centre.

Hilde Delameilleure, co-ordinator of Foton (centre of expertise) reflected on the project of ‘The Forgotten Orchestra’. Why is this project a good start for an inclusive policy?

The number of people suffering from dementia is increasing rapidly. By 2035 30% of people around the world will be confronted with dementia. It could be your mother, father, neighbour, friend… Hence our society cannot ignore this upcoming disease. People with dementia and their caregivers desire to take part in all aspects of life, including art and culture.  
Therefore, we need to invest more in an inclusive policy in culture and art. Today, people suffering from dementia still face too many obstacles to participate in cultural life.

Hilde Delameilleure shared 5 impressions of the learning journey of The Forgotten Orchestra.

1. A thorough preparation is important but sometimes you have to let go… We as librarians used to work in a structured manner with a thorough preparation. Some important questions were: what do we want want to achieve with the project? Which methodology can we use? Where can we gather usefull knowledge? How do we reach the target group? Which course do we take to come to workplace learning?

Throughout the creative sessions with people with dementia, we discovered that working with people with dementia needs creativity, flexibility and unpredictability, learn to let go of the preparations and acting upon the moment…

2. Let go of control 

Keeping control gives us a feeling of security and grip, something to hold on to. Keeping control creates stiffness, holds back spontaneity, prevents creative thinking and acting according to your intuition.  

Letting go of control asks for faith in power between people, and faith in a good outcome. According to Hilde Delameilleure, we required these insights very quickly during the project of The Forgotten Orchestra. We shared the responsability of a good process of the project with the participants and their caregivers.

3. To confront and deal with our own fear 

The fear and insecurity of the unknown, of saying something wrong, of hurting people, the fear of what meeting people with dementia could do to you… Working with people of this target group can force you to reflect on your own personality.

We faced this fear and replaced it by trust. We jumped and faced the challenge of dialogue based on respect and equality.  

4. Trust our inner strength 

We saw the strength of people with dementia, despite their vulnerability and limitations, a strength that comes forward in a surroundings of safety, equality and respect. If we give  attention to the strength of people we give them a feeling of self-dignity, and we stimulate them to take part in society.  

We need to trust on that strength but also on our inner strength and capacities. 

 5. Taking the journey of the project together with people with dementia 

The library created the project together with people with dementia, based on a relation of respect, open attitude towards the feelings and needs of the participants.

Through our way of working we were able to create a varicolored image of people suffering from dementia, instead holding on to a negative image. We learned to connect with people who are different from us and were able to break through the taboo about dementia. 

Hilde Delameilleure concluded that this was a very powerful example of “workplace learning”. Through dialogue, starting from music and music records, we could replace our stereotype thinking about people suffering from dementia, by more varicoloured images. This influenced our attitude towards people with dementia inside the library and in society.

“Dementia is more serious when a society can not deal with it.” Hilde Delameilleure emphasized that this project proves that a society can mean something for the well-being and quality of life of people with dementia and their caregivers.