Edinburgh Napier University

  Unlock & Revive is a multi-disciplinary action-research project that involves multiple partners. It is a highly collaborative project aimed at supporting the wellbeing of people living with dementia (PWD) and their caregivers in the Edinburgh and Lothian area, through online cultural engagement events. The programme was set up in response to Covid-19 to provide some form of weekly social cultural activity for the PWD community.

The Unlock & Revive project brought together 7 Edinburgh-based cultural and heritage organisations to offer weekly online sessions created specifically for PWD and their caregivers. 30 online sessions were delivered across a 3-month period from April – June 2021.

The aim of the Unlock & Revive project is to identify the active ingredients needed to deliver accessible online cultural and heritage events that would bring positive benefits to people living with dementia and their caregivers.

In partnership with the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University researchers undertook semi-structured interviews with event managers and focus groups with participants who had attended GLAM Dementia Socials at cultural & heritage partner organisations.

These cultural & heritage partner organisations were: National Galleries Scotland; Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh; National Library of Scotland; Museums & Galleries Edinburgh; National Museums Scotland; and University of Edinburgh Museum’s St. Celia’s Hall.

This report presents the findings from this action-research project and produces a number of recommendations for event managers and those working within cultural organisations and visitor attractions on how to produce engaging and accessible online and hybrid events for the dementia community.