Timeline
Join us in exploring some special moments from ARTZ Philadelphia’s history. More coming soon…
I found there’s life after dementia, with dementia, that people with dementia count. And my mom’s voice is still in there
-Toya A. care partner, former community liaison, and former board member
This timeline highlights milestones that relate directly to the community members affected by dementia who make ARTZ Philadelphia the organization it is.
2013
Launch of ARTZ Philadelphia
In July of 2013, art historian and museum educator Susan Shifrin launched ARTZ Philadelphia. Before the first ARTZ Philly program had even been scheduled, Pam E. contacted Susan to say that she and her father Phil were eager to attend it – whenever and wherever it would take place.
Phil was a longtime creative director in one of Philadelphia’s most prestigious advertising firms who was now living with dementia. For the next three years, until Phil’s death, he and his daughter became ARTZ regulars. Phil was loved by all for his gentleness, creativity, and principled views regarding the arts. Pam and Phil were ARTZ Philly’s very first donors.
…caregiving for my father has been … one of the hardest things I’ve ever tackled and among the most rewarding. Our interactions with ARTZ Philadelphia have definitely been a reward.
– Pam E., care partner and 1st ARTZ donor
2014-2015
Start of ARTZ @ The Museum
Peggy and Jack W. were the life of the very first ARTZ @ The Museum program, which took place at Woodmere Art Museum in 2014. They hardly missed a program during the next four years.
Jack became the inspiration and standard-bearer for the stories of rediscovery, opportunity, and creative transformation that embody ARTZ Philadelphia at its best. He taught us that ARTZ Philadelphia isn’t really about capital-A Art, but rather about forging connections.
I go with my wife to art museums a lot because she loves it. I go along… This is the first time — in my own head — that I’m thinking seriously about what’s going on here, and actually verbalizing it, because I’ve never done that… So, for the little while we’ve seen things today at the museum, I’ve enjoyed it a lot more.
-Jack W., person living with dementia
2016-2017
Start of ARTZ @ Jefferson
I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart, for what has been such a formative experience.
-Steven B., third year medical student
Eve G. was a retired social worker diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Her husband Len was a retired academic. They first came to ARTZ in 2014 and Eve was soon our resident expert on the human emotions and experiences underlying works of art we all looked at together. Len and Eve were among the first mentors for ARTZ @ Jefferson, which launched in early 2016. In this program, mentors affected by dementia build relationships with students through the arts and teach them about their lived experiences with dementia.
Three years after she attended her first ARTZ program, Eve was still communicating her caring and empathetic character, even though some days her only language was that of her eyes and her smile. She continued to serve as a beloved mentor to health professions students until a few months before she died.
Eve has her own insights. She will come alive… She will find her own ways to say things.
-Yanique B, professional caregiver
2018-2019
Start of ARTZ in the Neighborhood
A simple question sparked the ARTZ in the Neighborhood project. Community member Ruby asked “How could you expect us to feel welcome if your programs are all in English?” This led ARTZ to build bilingual community programs that are generated by and for the people of the communities they are meant to serve.
It makes a difference because I’m being a bridge for the community. People feel I’m able to understand where they’re coming from because I’m from the neighborhood.
-Madelyne G., care partner,
community liaison,
and translator
2020-2021
Start of ARTZ Notes
In 2020, ARTZ Philadelphia introduced our first music program, ARTZ Notes, which honors Carl D. Carl, along with his wife Susan, joined the ARTZ community in 2015 shortly after he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. These intimate, interactive music programs, modeled after concerts Carl and Susan held in their own home, have become a favorite with ARTZ participants like Hannah and her mother Claudine. Though Claudine is mostly nonverbal, she can be seen singing along to her favorite songs and dancing around the room at ARTZ Notes programs. Her daughter and care partner Hannah, who is also a medical student, says that ARTZ Notes has “become our thing.” According to Hannah, the program provides a uniquely understanding space, in which she and her mom are free to bond, sing, and dance!
Something that I tell everyone that I am talking to about ARTZ Notes, is that I really like that it’s a judgment free space. My mom has a very unique diagnosis and sometimes it can be difficult to find spaces where I don’t have to keep explaining that she has dementia. When I’m in the music sessions with ARTZ Notes I know that I don’t have to explain anything. Everybody there is in the same boat more or less, so it’s a space where I can just be.
-Hannah C., medical student, care partner
2022-2023
Completion of Community Mural Project
In 2022, two years of pandemic-era partnership between ARTZ Philadelphia and community members culminated in a neighborhood mural on the side of the Joy in the City building in the parking lot of Esperanza Health Center’s Hunting Park site.
Community partners driving the project included our community advisory group for ARTZ in the Neighborhood; staff of Esperanza Health Center; Vocatio Career Prep High School faculty and students; local faith communities; staff and clients of Aramingo Day Center; and Mural Arts Philadelphia, with artist Betsy Casañas.
The mural celebrates the resilience, creativity, and contributions of people living with memory loss and those who love them in the Hunting Park neighborhood. It also pays homage to generations of people planting and sowing seeds of change for the better in Hunting Park.
The mural will be a reminder, an inspiration, it will become a part of everyone who sees it.
Stephanie S., community advisor
2024-2025
12 Years of Joyful Connections
Since 2013, ARTZ Philadelphia has brought joyful and creative connections to thousands of people affected by dementia, evolving into a hybrid organization that meets people where they are at a given moment in time.
Our newest program, launched in 2025 — Cafés for Care Partners & Creative Connections — brings full circle our philosophy of equal support for care partners and people with dementia. Both partners travel together to a single venue nearby but enjoy facilitated sessions in different spaces where they can find respite and community with people who understand their lived experiences from the inside, out.
This whole person approach considers the lives of everyone invested in dementia care. Always grateful to ARTZ Philadelphia for thoughtful leadership in this landscape.
-Kristin T., artist, educator
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