Awaken at the AMA, an Albany Museum of Art program designed for individuals with memory loss, is expanding to reach a wider audience.

The free, monthly program, funded with a grant from the Barbara N. Rubin Foundation of Santa Barbara, Calif., will have its next session at 3:30 pm on Thursday, May 19 at the Albany Museum of Art, 311 Meadowlark Drive. Each session includes an interactive gallery visit and an artmaking project for those with memory loss and their caregivers. 

“Awaken at the AMA is modeled after and in accordance with the Museum of Modern Art’s Alzheimer's Project,” AMA Director of Education and Public Programming Annie Vanoteghem said. “We started Awaken in 2021 and initially we visited the Alzheimer’s Outreach Center here in Albany. Once the COVID situation improved to the point where we could invite participants from the Alzheimer’s Center and their caregivers to visit the museum for the program, we began conducting it at the AMA.”

 The program in its first year and a half has been aimed at reaching those with Alzheimer’s disease. Vanoteghem said that beginning with the May 19 session it is being opened to anyone in Southwest Georgia who has memory loss and their family or professional caregivers. There is no cost to participate.

“We believe that art should be made accessible to all,” AMA Executive Director Andrew J. Wulf, Ph.D., said. “This program is the first of its kind in our area. It reaches an underserved, vulnerable portion of our community and provides them with cognitive stimulation that enhances their quality of life.”