Monday
March 4th
Opening Session
Theme of the Day – Creative Brain Week ’24 – Looking back and reaching forward
Creative Brain Week welcomed audiences new or returning, live and online, to celebrate activity inspired by or developing from last year’s event, and detail the arc of the week ahead in Dublin. Hosted by Brian Lawlor, Ian Robertson and Dominic Campbell
All our events were FREE, both online and in person.
4.00-6.00pm
Creative Brain Week 2023 Recap and Look Ahead
Professors Brian Lawlor and Ian Robertson, along with Dominic Campbell, look forward to this year’s themes: Attention, Connection and Love.
We also checked in with thematically connected, locally informed programs emerging in Australia, Botswana, Egypt and India.
We were joined online by
- Lingani Mbakile-Mahlanza (Botswana) and
- Mohamed Salama (Egypt)
Contributors
Dominic Campbell is leading the Creative Brain Week initiative. As Bealtaine Festival Director he steered its celebration of creativity and aging’s development over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration he transformed St Patrick’s Festival’s three shows into ninety growing production, managerial teams, financial support, engagement and impact.
Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” delivering 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2,500 artists from 32 countries.
He mentored “celebration of ageing” festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins, replicating it in San Francisco (2018) and Kentucky (2019).
Recognized as a key cultural influencer in Ireland by The Irish Times and by First Avenue as a Key Influencer in Aging in the US, in 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University of California San Francisco an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia. Currently developing an arts programme for the Irish Hospice Foundation as response to the pandemic and the Ageing Voices programme with Sing Ireland.
Website:
www.creativeaginginternational.com
www.gbhi.org/profiles/dominic-campbell
Social:
X: @CreativeAgeIntl and @CreativeBrainWk and @IrelandChorus
Professor Brian Lawlor (MD, FRCPI, FRCPsych, FTCD (Hon), DABPN) is Conolly Norman Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, and Site Director of the Global Brain Health Institute at Trinity College. He is a geriatric psychiatrist with an interest in dementia, late-life depression, loneliness and brain health. Brian has worked for over 30 years on developing services and delivering care to people with dementia. His research interests range from early detection and prevention to evaluating new treatments for dementia.
Websites:
https://www.understandtogether.ie
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/brian-lawlor
Social Media:
Lingani has an appointment at the University of Botswana as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the psychology department and as coordinator of the psychology clinic. She has a special interest in neurodegenerative conditions, traumatic brain injury, and training in neuropsychology.
Lingani is also an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute.
Website:
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/lingani-mbakile-mahlanza
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lingani-mbakile-mahlanza-5b7770154/
Ian Robertson is a Founding Director of the Global Brain Health Institute and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin. He is co-leader of the BrainHealth Project (Center for BrainHealth UTDallas) and is a Member of Academia Europaea and of the Royal Irish Academy. He is widely known for his research on neuropsychology and his science writing has included books aimed at the general reader: Mind Sculpture (2000), The Mind’s Eye (2003), Stay Sharp (2005), The Winner Effect (2012) and The Stress Test (2016), all of which have been widely translated. His most recent book How Confidence Works was published by Penguin in 2022.
Websites:
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/ian-robertson
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-robertson-4480502/
Mohamed is a professor at the Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI). Additionally, he is a member of the steering committee of the International Parkinson’s Disease Genome Consortium (IPDGC)- Africa and the Scientific Committee of the Egyptian National Genome Project
Websites:
https://www.aucegypt.edu/fac/mohamed-salama
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/mohamed-salama
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohamed-Salama-39
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohamed-salama-311a4458/
Emergent Impact
As Creative Brain Week grows around the world the impact of its contributors deepens. We caught up with just some of those making waves:
- Anusha Yasoda-Mohan – The Tinnitus Project
- Rachel Hoare – School of Enforced Displacement
- Mei Lin Yap and Eimear McGlinchy – support for third level education for people with Down Syndrome
- Kirti Ranchod – African Brain Health Network
- Dominic Campbell on capturing knowledge from Creative Brain Weeks
Contributors
Dominic Campbell is leading the Creative Brain Week initiative. As Bealtaine Festival Director he steered its celebration of creativity and aging’s development over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration he transformed St Patrick’s Festival’s three shows into ninety growing production, managerial teams, financial support, engagement and impact.
Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” delivering 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2,500 artists from 32 countries.
He mentored “celebration of ageing” festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins, replicating it in San Francisco (2018) and Kentucky (2019).
Recognized as a key cultural influencer in Ireland by The Irish Times and by First Avenue as a Key Influencer in Aging in the US, in 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University of California San Francisco an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia. Currently developing an arts programme for the Irish Hospice Foundation as response to the pandemic and the Ageing Voices programme with Sing Ireland.
Website:
www.creativeaginginternational.com
www.gbhi.org/profiles/dominic-campbell
Social:
X: @CreativeAgeIntl and @CreativeBrainWk and @IrelandChorus
Dr Rachel Hoare is a lecturer in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies in Trinity College where she is the Director of the Centre for Forced Migration Studies and has been actively involved for a number of years with University of Sanctuary activities, including most recently, volunteer-led English conversation classes for refugees organised by her colleague Dr Bronagh Ćatibušić and herself. Rachel is also an expressive arts psychotherapist working on a part-time basis with unaccompanied refugee minors on behalf of Tusla, the Irish Child and Family agency. Rachel’s research focuses on trauma-informed practice, the impact of friendships on the coping and resilience of refugee youth as well as the benefits of expressive arts practice.
Rachel has delivered numerous trainings on how to work in a trauma-informed way with refugees including to the UNHCR in Dublin, the European Migration Network, government agencies, NGO’s, charities, schools, libraries, youth organisations, social workers, foster careers and other support staff. She has also delivered a public lecture on this topic as part of the Long Room Hub `Behind the Headlines’ series. Rachel has also written in the print media about the ways in which expressive arts therapies can help to heal the trauma of refugees and she has delivered keynotes and other conference papers on this and other topics related to her research, advocacy and clinical practice supporting refugee youth.
Website: https://www.tcd.ie/research/profiles/?profile=rmhoare
Dr. Eimear McGlinchey is an Assistant Professor in Intellectual Disability in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, and a Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute, focused on identifying early biomarkers of dementia for people with Down syndrome by developing an intervention program using online cognitive training with adults with Down Syndrome.
Eimear’s background is in Psychology and her primary area of interest is in the promotion and maintenance of brain health in people with an intellectual disability, with particular focus on the area of dementia in people with Down syndrome. Eimear’s work in the area of dementia and Down syndrome includes investigating early biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease using neuroimaging, blood- based and cognitive biomarkers and is PI of the PREVENT dementia – DS project. This project is part of a collaborative international study with the Horizon 21 European Down syndrome Consortium. Dr McGlinchey is co-PI on a project that includes the voices of people with an intellectual disability in developing guidelines for post-diagnostic dementia support.
Eimear’s work is based in the Trinity Centre for Ageing and Intellectual Disability and is research lead with the National Intellectual Disability Memory Service. Her other areas of interest include equity and inclusion as well as accessibility and innovative dissemination.
Eimear teaches on the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the school and provides supervision to undergraduate, masters and PhD students. She is Program Director for the Ageing Health and Wellbeing in Intellectual Disability MSc, the Dementia MSc, and the Community Health MSc in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. She has a number of publications and has disseminated widely through national and international conferences.
Websites:
https://www.tcd.ie/tcaid/people/mcgline/
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/eimear-mcglinchey
Social:
Kirti Ranchod is a neurologist and brain health consultant based in Johannesburg, South Africa with an interest in the field of neuroaesthetics including the impact of art on brain health. She is the founder of Memorability.co offering practical, neuroscience-based mental health solutions that includes art and creativity, the co-founder of the African Brain Health Network, and an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health. Her appreciation for art started with Friday evening lessons from her very patient father as an eight-year-old. She used drawing and creativity to help with her medical studies and uses art and creativity in her work as a neurologist to support better brain health. Influenced by her culture, the cultures she is surrounded by, and her professional and personal experiences, her work explores the points at which neuroscience, art, yogic science, and other knowledge systems intersect or diverge. Related to this, she hosts a series of talks on Investing in our Cultural Capital for Better Brain Health at the Origins Centre (Wits).
Website:
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/kirti-ranchod
Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirti-ranchod-8806327a
Further information on Mei Lin Yap is available here
Dr. Anusha Yasoda-Mohan is a Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health and a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin. She is also a trained classical Bharathanatyam and Bollywood dancer. In addition to studying phantom auditory perception using experimental psychology, neuromodulation and neuroimaging, Anusha is immensely passionate about the performing arts which enables her to resonate and collaborate with both artists and scientists. Her diverse and multicultural experience through her national and international travels as both a performing artiste and researcher shapes her persona and inspires her ongoing work of marrying the two seemingly different worlds. She is Director of the International Tinnitus Research Initiative Foundation’s dissertation and communication wing (TRI Academy), which strives to take tinnitus research and clinical practices to the wider tinnitus research community. She is also the co-developer of BrainFM – an education and awareness tool aimed at making complex concepts about the brain accessible through dance while also building community. Additionally, Anusha leads a community for people living with tinnitus in Ireland called Tinnitus Eire (www.tinnituseire.ie) through which she strives to bring a sense of community and belonging for tinnitus sufferers. These tie together with her vision to leverage the arts as a medium to both comprehend and communicate the working of the brain.
Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=GxPjtv4AAAAJ&hl=en
Social:
Instagram: @nushmo90
Facebook: @Anusha.mohan.39
LinkedIn: @AnushaYasoda-Mohan
Who was in the Room - Atlantic Fellowship
At Creative Brain Week, intelligence and expertise is all around the room, not just on stage. We took time to ask “Who is in the Room?” with contributions from:
- Atlantic Fellows from seven equity-focussed programmes globally, including Prabha Shrestha (Nepal), Tanisha Hill-Jarrett (USA), Verónica Rojas (USA), Luis Martinez (US/Colombia/Argentina), Marx Itabelo Lwabanya (Democratic Republic of Congo), Anne Laux (USA), Lebogang Molete (South Africa), Yvette Andrews (South Africa), Fransiska Falentina Sugi (Indonesia), Sreypeov Tun (Cambodia), Deloris (Dela) Wilson (USA)
Contributors
Dominic Campbell is leading the Creative Brain Week initiative. As Bealtaine Festival Director he steered its celebration of creativity and aging’s development over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration he transformed St Patrick’s Festival’s three shows into ninety growing production, managerial teams, financial support, engagement and impact.
Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” delivering 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2,500 artists from 32 countries.
He mentored “celebration of ageing” festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins, replicating it in San Francisco (2018) and Kentucky (2019).
Recognized as a key cultural influencer in Ireland by The Irish Times and by First Avenue as a Key Influencer in Aging in the US, in 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University of California San Francisco an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia. Currently developing an arts programme for the Irish Hospice Foundation as response to the pandemic and the Ageing Voices programme with Sing Ireland.
Website:
www.creativeaginginternational.com
www.gbhi.org/profiles/dominic-campbell
Social:
X: @CreativeAgeIntl and @CreativeBrainWk and @IrelandChorus
Who was in the Room - WHO+Lancet
At Creative Brain Week, intelligence and expertise is all around the room, not just on stage. We took time to ask “Who is in the Room?” with contributions from:
- Authors of a unique five-part Lancet Global Special on the impact of arts on non-communicable diseases and brain health conditions. Editors and authors of these articles, launched during the 2024 UN General Assembly by the Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization, were assembled in Dublin for Creative Brain Week working on their final drafts and include Daisy Fancourt, Nisha Sajnani, Stephen Stapleton and Jill Sonke
Contributors
Daisy Fancourt is Professor of Psychobiology & Epidemiology and Head of the Social Biobehavioural Research Group at UCL (www.sbbresearch.org). Daisy studied at Oxford University and King’s College London before completing her PhD in psychoneuroimmunology at UCL and postdoctoral work at Imperial College London/RCM alongside working in the NHS. Her research focuses on the effects of social connections and behaviours on health, including social deficits (e.g. loneliness and social isolation) and social assets (e.g. community engagement, arts & cultural activities, and social prescribing).
Daisy has received over £30 million in research funding as Principal and Co-Investigator and her research has been recognised by fellowships from Wellcome and British Academy and two dozen national and international awards including from the British Science Association, Leverhulme Trust, Wellcome, British Academy, British Federation of Women Graduates, American Psychosomatic Society, AHRC, ESRC, Royal Society for Public Health and NHS England. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health and Royal Society of Arts and has been named a BBC New Generation Thinker and a World Economic Forum Global Shaper.
Daisy is Director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Arts and Health as well as a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on cultural and behavioural insights on health and an Expert Scientific Advisory to DCMS. She is past-director of the UKRI MARCH Mental Health Research Network (www.marchlegacy.org). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Daisy led the awarding-winning Covid-19 Social Study – the UK’s largest study into the psychological and social impact of the virus (www.covidsocialstudy.org). The study was used in real-time to inform decisions such as when to release lockdown and how to roll out the vaccine. She also directed the COVID-Minds Network: an international network of 170 longitudinal studies exploring the global mental health impact of the pandemic (www.covidminds.org). Daisy was a member of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission and the World Health Organisation Expert Group on mental health in COVID-19.
Daisy has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers, 2 books, and over a dozen book chapters and given over 40 keynotes around the world. She is listed by Clarivate as one of the most highly cited scientists in the world.
Website: https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=DFANC73
Social media: https://twitter.com/Daisy_Fancourt
Nisha Sajnani is the founding co-director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, a collaboration with Community Jameel, the World Health Organisation (WHO), New York University (NYU) Steinhardt and CULTURUNN
Website:
https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/people/nisha-sajnani
Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishasajnani/
X: https://twitter.com/NishaSajnani
Jill Sonke, PhD, is research director in the Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida (UF), director of national research and impact for the One Nation/One Project initiative, and co-director of the EpiArts Lab, a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab. She is an affiliated faculty member in the UF School of Theatre & Dance, the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, the Center for African Studies, the STEM Translational Communication Center, and the One Health Center, and is an editorial board member for Health Promotion Practice journal. With a specialization in the arts and health communication, Jill served in the pandemic as a senior advisor to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vaccine Confidence and Demand Team on the COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Task Force.
With 27+ years of experience and leadership in the field of arts in health and a PhD in arts in public health from Ulster University in Northern Ireland, Jill is active in research and policy advocacy nationally and internationally. She is an artist and a mixed methods researcher with a current focus on population-level health outcomes associated with arts and cultural participation, arts in public health, and the arts in health communication. She is the recipient of a New Forms Florida Fellowship Award, a State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship Award, a NISOD Excellence in Teaching Award, a UF Internationalizing the Curriculum Award, a UF Most Outstanding Service-learning Faculty Award, a UF Public Health Champions award, a UF Cross-Campus Faculty Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and over 350 grants for her programs and research at the University of Florida.
Websites:
https://www.onenationoneproject.com
https://arts.ufl.edu/directory/profile/1181
Social Media:
X: @UFCAM
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-sonke-72b85690/
Stephen Stapleton is a British-Norwegian artist-social entrepreneur known for leading organisations and developing platforms for cultural production, education and diplomacy across international borders. Following an artist road trip across the Middle East in 2002-2003, Stephen founded Edge of Arabia and the UK charity, the Crossway Foundation, as platforms for creative collaboration between the Middle East and the West. In 2015, Stephen launched Culturunners at MIT to develop artists-led initiatives which utilize culture to transform communities, societies and systems and inspire greater empathy across ideological and geographical borders. In 2019, Culturunners established The Future is Unwritten as part of the United Nations 75th Anniversary program to facilitate cooperation between the international Arts sector and UN Agencies, and to accelerate implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In 2020, Stephen established the Healing Arts initiative, in collaboration with Christopher Bailey at the World Health Organization, as a rapid response to COVID-19 and its impact on mental health. In 2023, Stephen became a Co-Founding Director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab.
Websites:
Social:
Instagram: @stephenstapleton
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/
The Pratchett Prize - Announcement
https://youtu.be/TH-PPsNQg5kInaugural Awarding of The Pratchett Prize. Inspired by the life and work of author Terry Pratchett, this award acknowledges the contribution of a scientist, artist, activist, or person living with dementia who, collaboratively or individually, works to reduce its impact. In the spirit of Terry Pratchett’s literary and personal work, the “adjudicating wizards” awarding the Prize seek humour and wit in art and science, kindness, creativity and curiosity, playfulness, attention and dedication, in equal measure.
Pratchett & Trinity Link
Pratchett did not go to university. He left school early so as to start working as a journalist, having been offered the job. After working for some time as a journalist, he started writing fiction in his spare time. He took his first book to Trinity graduate, Colin Smythe, who owned a small publishing House (Colin Smythe Limited). Smythe published Pratchett’s first few books himself, and then became Pratchett’s literary agent when larger publishers (Gollancz and later Penguin Random House) took over publishing his work.
Smythe began donating copies of all Pratchett’s books in all published languages to Trinity, Liverpool and Senate House Library (University of London). This collection continues to grow today, being represented by all 41 of Pratchett’s Discworld novels, several other novels, children’s books and other books, and all their translations into at least 40 languages. At last count (just before the pandemic), this collection was over 2000 items strong.
Pratchett was awarded an honorary doctorate by Trinity in 2008 for his services to Literature.
He created a bursary to facilitate a student exchange between Dublin and Adelaide each year
In 2010, Pratchett was made an Adjunct Lecturer in Creative Writing at Trinity. You can view his inaugural speech (the importance of being amazed by absolutely everything), here:https://youtu.be/n2FZ_0d3yEI?si=5K1dJi6h__k_arWG
He came to Trinity regularly. There’s also a nice talk on the Science of the Discworld, which he gave in the Science Gallery, here: https://youtu.be/3XR8OfsiB80?si=q_ZnVIZXxYf6In17
Pratchett Project
The Project was set up in 2018, when the library approached me about the collection and asked whether there would be any interest in it for literary translation students. Since then, each culture night we have brought together anyone from any discipline or inter-discipline whose work has intersected in some way with the life and/or work of Terry Pratchett. We have welcomed speakers from topic areas including: literary studies, digital humanities, translation studies, library studies, theatre studies, and neuroscience. Many of the talks that have been given in the past are available on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@ThePratchettProject/videos
In the summer of 2020 (during the pandemic), we held an international conference online, which took the same principle. Anybody from any discipline or inter-discipline was welcome, provided their work was related to Pratchett’s life and/or work in some way.
Since 2021, the Project has been working to attract funding to support its work. We are hoping to digitise the whole collection and place it into a non-consumable database, so that researchers would be able to interrogate it without compromising copyright law. Pratchett was famously fascinated by technology.
Pratchett became one of the most vocal advocates for supporting research into Alzheimer’s Disease after being diagnosed in 2007. He continued this advocacy until his death in 2015:https://youtu.be/rNt5O5X5QhQ?si=VYRlHz940jE7aPJx. The Pratchett Project has taken up his mantel in this respect.
He was also a passionate advocate for the natural environment:https://youtu.be/HFDCRKE0DPs?si=Iywm–3maq_swVqi and assisted death:https://youtu.be/P0d0-bUrNF4?si=lPGQj3xOPZRCBKQC
We have attracted funding to cover a PhD candidate working at the forefront of Alzheimer’s Disease research, who has engaged heavily with the Project throughout his project.
We have also been applying for external funding to allow us to support a whole inter-disciplinary team of doctoral and postdoctoral researchers who would aim to dispel the stigma associated with Alzheimer’s Disease.
At this stage, the Project is an umbrella for people with an interest in Pratchett’s life and work to interact irrespective of disciplinary boundaries.
In the future (funding willing), we will take this passive approach and make it active, by driving forward a new conception of doctoral and postdoctoral training which builds on the skill sets that people in diverse disciplines have, but which do not necessarily travel easily across disciplinary boundaries. We have tested this concept recently with the PhD candidate in neuroscience, who has also needed to learn new skills associated with literary interpretation and communication with a general audience.
The Prize
The Pratchett Prize is a new initiative which folds into Create Brain Week, and cementing the growing importance of neuroscience and Brain Health more generally to the Pratchett Project. The prize is awarded each year to an individual or group that has had a material effect on challenging the stigma associated with Alzheimer’s Disease, and/or has had a material effect over the lives of people living with the disease.
This year it will be awarded by Terry Pratchett’s assistant, Rob Wilkins. WHile there will be a bust of Terry Pratchett awarded on the night as part of the ceremony, the main prize is symbolic. The winner has done something for the greater good that deserves recognition.
In this case, the winners are in need of additional funding to complete the documentary charting their project. We’re hopeful that the award will facilitate them getting that funding.
The winners
The winners of this inaugural Pratchett Prize are Bryan Murray (actor) and Deirdre Kinahan (playwright) for the An Old Song, Half Forgotten project (https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/whats-on/an-old-song-half-forgotten/). This play features a character living with dementia and recalling the events of his life. https://youtu.be/xU8PfQ4IP_c?si=GVCHsvkNhsoQiBEW
The team created a new paradigm of production, in which Bryan Murray, who is also living with dementia, is supported in his role as the main actor by an understudy who works with an earpiece, as well as by his co-star, who plays a younger version of his own character. Everything from the set and lighting to the rehearsal schedule and script was carefully planned and crafted around the idea of supporting Bryan’s work.
The whole project was filmed, and could act as a model of good practice for other similar productions in the future. The team is looking for around €13k to facilitate the production of a documentary based on the footage. This documentary would be shared by the Pratchett Project in its work to raise awareness and kill the stigma associated with dementia. The documentary is also reminiscent of a documentary which Pratchett madehttps://youtu.be/KmejLjxFmCQ?si=qKSyP9W8UhBY2-DR,https://youtu.be/tTgqocgY5Ww?si=HO5Tmnj9Zm5KY8U1, in which he demonstrates the everyday complications associated with living with the disease, as well as his determination not to let it rule his life.
Linking the disease to recognisable individuals has a demonstrated effect over the stigma and fear associated with brain health diseases of all kinds. The overall aim is to use this tactic not only to raise awareness of the disease and the need for more research.
What the recipients said:
Writing An Old Song Half Forgotten was one of the most thrilling, unique and humbling experiences of my 25 year theatre career to date. We wanted to celebrate the extraordinary resilience of human beings, the exquisite joy of artistic craft and the truth of Alzheimer’s by creating a piece of theatre elevated rather than compromised by that condition. I hope that through this prize we can share our experience and present a blueprint for other artists, other theatres, other communities around the world – a great actor is a great actor with or without Alzheimer’s.
Deirdre Kinahan: Playwright
“I was very honoured that Dee Kinahan wrote “An Old Song Half Forgotten “ especially for me, which gave me the opportunity to preform once more on the Peacock stage. And then to receive the Pratchette prize is a further acknowledgment of the importance of highlighting Dementia in our society today “.
Bryan Murray
It was a massive privilege to work as creative producer on An Old Song, Half Forgotten, written by Deirdre Kinahan. It felt like there was a real importance in what we were doing and now I know that our instincts were right. In creating environments whereby Bryan Murray could continue to act on stage whilst living with Alzheimer’s disease, we got to see first hand the importance of creating accessible environments for people to be able to continue to work.
Natasha Duffy, SoFFt Productions
Summary of the run in the Abbey:
An Old Song Half Forgotten
Written by Deirdre Kinahan
Directed by Louise Lowe
Starring Bryan Murray and Matthew Malone
An Old Song, Half Forgotten opens a window into the life and soul of an older actor who is living in care with Alzheimer’s disease.
When a visiting string quartet play, the music summons a suite of glorious characters and moments from his life, allowing him to revel once again in his great loves and losses, whilst conjuring up a smashing vision of his younger self.
Written by Deirdre Kinahan and directed by Louise Lowe, An Old Song, Half Forgotten was written for and performed by one of Ireland’s most celebrated actors, Bryan Murray, who himself was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Theatre is Bryan Murray’s home, with a career beginning as a member of the Abbey Theatre company. In this Co Production by The Abbey Theatre and SoFFt Productions, he returned to the Peacock stage to inhabit a play that sings entirely to his distinctive voice and talent at this time of great change in his life.
Contributors
James Hadley’s research is representative of his wide-ranging interests, many of which centre on translation in under-researched cultural contexts, particularly in East Asia. James is active in developing theoretical mechanisms for the analysis of indirect translations. He is also active in Literary Machine Translation and Computer Assisted Literary Translation research, and in integrating Digital Humanities methodologies and empirical research into Translation Studies. James also coordinates the Pratchett Project, which brings together research from all fields which is in some way related to the life and/or work of Terry Pratchett.
Website:
https://www.tcd.ie/literary-translation/people/jhadley.php
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/James-Hadley-3
Social Media:
Deirdre Kinahan is an award-winning playwright. She is a member of Aosdána, Ireland’s elected organisation of outstanding artists. Deirdre collaborates with artists and theatres all over the world, is literary associate to Meath County Council and has a large canon of regularly produced plays to her credit. Deirdre is published by Nick Hern Books.
Best Known Plays include: The Unmanageable Sisters, Rathmines Road, Moment, Halcyon Days, Bogboy, Hue & Cry, Melody, Spinning and her Irish Revolutionary Trilogy Wild Sky, Embargo and Outrage.
Deirdre works predominantly with the Abbey Theatre, Landmark Productions and Fishamble Theatre Company in Ireland but also collaborates with theatres in the UK (Bush, Old Vic, Pentabus, Royal Court), Europe (Stat Theatre Maintz, Ateneum Warsaw) and America (Irish Repertory Theatre NYC, Solas Nua, Irish Arts Centre NYC, Studio Theatre DC, Steep Theatre, Irish Theatre Chicago).
Recent works include The Saviour for Landmark Productions & Irish Repertory Theatre 2023, An Old Song Half Forgotten for the Abbey Theatre & Sofft productions 2023, In the Middle of the Fields for Solas Nua Washington DC 2021, The Visit for Draiocht & Dublin Theatre Festival 2021/22, Bloody Yesterday 2022 for Glassmask Theatre.
Deirdre has a number of new Theatre and Screen projects in development, she also has years of experience as a producer and enjoys curating or participating in multi-genre artistic projects for Meath County Council and other national festivals/events.
Social Media:
Facebook: @deirdre.kinahan.3
Bryan Murray trained at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin and was a member of the company there for seven years appearing in over 50 productions. He has also been a member of The Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre Company.
Recent stage credits include the role of James O’Brien in Deirdre Kinahan’s AN OLD SONG, HALF FORGOTTEN directed by Louise Lowe for the Abbey Theatre & SoFFT Productions. He also played the lead role of Dave in DAVE AT LARGE by Joe Devlin and Brian McAvera, which opened at The Civic Theatre, Dublin and went on to tour nationwide in 2017.
Bryan has been a regular face on television for the last 35 years. Since 2006 he has played the regular role of Bob Charles in Ireland’s longest-running soap FAIR CITY. Some of his best-known roles include Fitz in STRUMPET CITY, Flurry Knox in THE IRISH RM, Shifty in BREAD, (For which he won BBC TV Personality Of The Year) Harry Cassidy in PERFECT SCOUNDRELS and Trevor Jordache in BROOKSIDE.
Further television appearances include THE YEAR OF THE FRENCH; I’M A DREAMER MONTREAL; RIFLEMAN; BREAD OR BLOOD; FINAL RUN; IRIS IN THE TRAFFIC; THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR; GATES OF GOLD; HARD SHOULDER; THE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE; CASUALTY; HOLBY CITY; THE BILL; SILENT WITNESS; PROOF; the ITV drama BABY WAR, and the Golden Globe nominated series, THE TUDORS.
His theatre work in Dublin and London includes; THE HOSTAGE; BORSTAL BOY; THE MORNING AFTER OPTIMISM; THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN; THE SILVER TASSIE; DEATHWATCH; THE DEVILS; ST. JOAN; BLOOD WEDDING; PHILADELPHIA, HERE I COME; THE RIVALS; VOLUNTEERS; THE GLASS MENAGERIE; THE SHADOW OF THE GLEN; THE WHITEHEADED BOY; FANDO AND LIS; THE PLEBIANS REHEARSE THE UPRISING; THE HAPPY GO LIKEABLE MAN; A CHANGE OF MIND; THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS; JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK; CATCHPENNY TWIST; NASHVILLE NEW YORK; BLOOD BROTHERS; THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST; FINIAN’S RAINBOW; ONE TOUCH OF VENUS; MISERY; DEATHTRAP; THE CAVALCADERS; BOYBAND; AN INSPECTOR CALLS; AN IDEAL HUSBAND; JOE & I; THE GOAT; LOVE LETTERS; RANK; MEDEA; ANNA KARENINA; SALOMÉ; GREAT EXPECTATIONS; THE DEEP BLUE SEA; CELEBRATION; MY COUSIN RACHEL; BEST MAN; JACK AND THE BEANSTALK and IN SEARCH OF MR. B.
Bryan has presented KNOCK KNOCK and UMBRELLA for BBC Television, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE for RTE, and for three years his live chat show ENCORE for RTE television in Ireland. He recently presented the IFTA nominated four part documentary series THE TENEMENTS for TV3 and the four part documentary series THE BIG HOUSE also for TV3. He is an occasional presenter of LATE DATE on RTE Radio 1.
He has appeared in many television commercials in the UK and has been the voice for a number of advertising campaigns. In the United States his face is well known for the PIONEER PRESS TV commercials and the IRISH SPRING TV Commercials which he presented for 6 years.
Bryan has also worked on a number of Radio dramas for RTÉ and the BBC, most recently voicing the role of Dr. Pat Finnegan in A MATTER OF MODESTY, directed by Goretti Slavin for RTÉ Radio Drama on One.
His film credits include the role of Henry Liddell in Farhad Safinia’s THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN starring Natalie Dormer, Mel Gibson and Sean Penn; HERE ARE LADIES, A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN, MRS. SANTA CLAUS and BOY EATS GIRL.
Bryan performed in LOVE LETTERS BY A.R. Gurney in the Viking Theatre and in 2019 toured the country with Halcyon Days by Deirdre Kinahan.
Bryan is based in Dublin.
SoFFt Productions is a creative collaborative team, established in 2020 and based in Dublin, Ireland. The SoFFt team develops exceptional and innovative work in the spaces of arts, cultural and creativity for Irish and international audiences. The team is committed to designing, developing and delivering meaningful work in multidisciplinary arts practice from concept development, through programme creation and curation, to production – an end-to-end model of production for both live and online experiences.
Website:
https://www.sofftproductions.com/
Social Media:
X: @SOFFTProd
Facebook: @SOFFTProductions
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/sofftprod
6.00pm-7.30pm
Creative Brain Week Exhibition Opening
A first look at the exhibition accompanying Creative Brain Week.
