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Anne Basting, PhD, is a writer, artist, and advocate.
In this discussion, she will explore the power of creativity to transform the lived experience of individuals with dementia and those who care for them. The conversation will also explore the complex realities of aging, dementia, and end-of-life issues with wisdom and compassion.
Wednesday, Mar. 11 • 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Browning Rooms | EVPL Central
This event is supported with funds from the Lottes Lecture Series.
About Anne Basting
Dr. Basting is an Emerita Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and is the Founder of TimeSlips.org, which trains caregivers to unlock the meaning and joy in elder care. As the author of numerous articles and four books, she has been internationally recognized for her speaking and innovative work, including being awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. Learn more about her works at anne-basting.com.
Anne Basting’s Works
Creative Care: A Revolutionary Approach to Dementia and Elder Care
Today’s elderly–especially those experiencing dementia and Alzheimer’s–are often isolated in nursing homes or segregated in elder care facilities, making the final years of life feel lonely and devoid of meaning. To alleviate elders’ sense of aloneness, Dr. Anne Basting has developed a radical approach that combines theater and improvisation methods with medically supported therapies to help them get in touch with their own creativity and become more engaged with their families and communities. Basting has developed creative techniques, rooted in twenty-five years of research, that draw on core exercises from theater. This approach fosters storytelling and active listening, allowing elders to freely share ideas and stories without worrying about getting the details absolutely “correct.” Basting’s years of research have shown that these practices stimulate the brain and awaken the imagination to add wonder and awe to patients’ daily lives–and provide them a means of connection.
Forget Memory: Creating Better Lives for People with Dementia
Memory loss can be one of the most terrifying aspects of a diagnosis of dementia. Yet the fear and dread of losing our memory make the experience of the disease worse than it needs to be, according to cultural critic and playwright Anne Davis Basting. She says, Forget memory. Basting emphasizes the importance of activities that focus on the present to improve the lives of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
Based on ten years of practice and research in the field, Basting’s study includes specific examples of innovative programs that stimulate growth, humor, and emotional connection; translates into accessible language a wide range of provocative academic works on memory; and addresses how advances in medical research and clinical practice are already pushing radical changes in care for persons with dementia.
Bold, optimistic, and innovative, Basting’s cultural critique of dementia care offers a vision for how we can change the way we think about and care for people with memory loss.
The Stages of Age: Performing Age in Contemporary American Culture
In a time when aging and old age are often equated with rigidity, decline, and invisibility, the very act of acting, of taking on a new role, can help shift cultural understandings of later life. In this book, playwright and scholar Anne Davis Basting explores both aging actors and aging as acting in a cross-section of American theatrical representations that hope to catalyze shifts in our understanding of age. The first study of its kind, The Stages of Age, argues that aging is a vital element of identity and difference.
The author explores in a rigorously self-conscious fashion eight performances that interrupt, transform, and underscore stereotypes of later age. Whether invoking the Geritol Frolics of Brainerd, Minnesota, The Grandparents Living Theatre of Columbus, Ohio, Carol Channing’s smash revival of Hello, Dolly!, or her own work with Alzheimer’s patients, Basting describes the dynamic processes and interchanges that constitute the aging process as well as the theatrical representations that capture that process. Fluently exploring the intersections of performance theory and sociological method while maintaining a clear focus on the actors and producers of senior theater, The Stages of Age introduces a long-overlooked aspect of cultural identity and performance method.
The Penelope Project: An Arts-Based Odyssey to Change Elder Care
Of the 15,000 nursing homes in the United States, how many are places you’d want to visit, much less live in? Now that people are living longer and more of the population are elderly, this question is more important than ever, particularly for people with disabilities. We must transform long-term care into an experience we and our loved ones can face without dread. It can be done. The Penelope Project shows how by taking readers on an ambitious journey to create a long-term care community that engages its residents in challenging, meaningful art-making
