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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle, together with a number of specialist partners, are bringing dementia-friendly cinema to its screens for the first time this summer.
The North East cinema has been awarded £10,000 by the Ballinger Charity Trust to invest in a scheme to make film more accessible to dementia sufferer.
Starting in July, the project aims to make it easier for people with dementia, their carers and families to take a trip to the cinema. The funding will help pay for specialist training and support for cinema staff, subsidised tickets, barriers to attendance and advice on what type of films to show.
In a year in which Julianne Moore won the ‘best actress’ Oscar for her role as a dementia sufferer in Still Alice, the disease is increasingly being acknowledged as a serious issue. There are an estimated 34,000 people in the North East with dementia and many people gradually withdraw from social outings such as cinema trips after diagnosis. The project hopes to encourage some of those to continue to visit the cinema or make a return trip. In addition, it will help to break down some of the stigma associated with the disease and screenings will be open to everyone.
The Dementia Friendly Cinema project was initiated by the Elders Council of Newcastle who also provided seed funding to start the project. It has been developed and informed by a steering group which includes the Elders Council, Tyneside Cinema, Alzheimer’s Society, Newcastle Carers, Dementia Care, Newcastle Quality of Life Partnership and Newcastle University’s Institute for Ageing.
Updates on the project can be found on the Tyneside website, www.tynesidecinema.co.uk.