About VIA Improv
The principle at the center of the VIA program is that there are no wrong answers
Say YES and then all ideas can be celebrated and built upon.
Village Improv for Alzheimer’s (VIA) offers an innovative approach to person-centered dementia care. We use improvised theatre and storytelling to create meaningful activity for people living with dementia. Our core goals are to foster self-expression, agency, recreation, and social engagement. Our approach emphasizes our participants’ in-the-moment strengths and personality rather than their memory. We believe the most important impacts on people living with dementia include improved quality of life and new perspectives from care providers when witnessing the creative potential of these individuals.
Our History
In 2015, the VIA program was created by Karen Johnson Diamond and Col Cseke at Verb Theatre in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Society of Calgary. Inside Out Theatre adopted VIA in 2016 and it remains a regular part of the Alzheimer’s Society’s Club 36 day program, which we continue to develop with participants and staff. In 2019, we received funding from Alberta Health Services to create a training program for healthcare professionals to run the VIA program at their facilities.
About Inside Out Theatre
Inside Out Theatre is a Deaf and disability theatre company in Calgary Alberta equally invested in artistic excellence, community development, and deepening our cultures’ accessibility. We offer community-based drama programs to Calgarians with disabilities that foster a love of theatre, the joy of community, and the rewards of self-expression. We produce and present plays created by artists with disabilities and their allies that insist on and celebrate their place in the public sphere. And, we work to improve theatre’s accessibility for audience members and to ensure their equity and dignity in attending performing arts in Calgary.
Our Champions
VIA has been made possible through the support and funding of these organizations.
AHS’ Community-Based Inovations in Dementia Care
Inside Out Theatre would like to acknowledge the generous support of Alberta Health Services through their Community-based Innovations for Dementia Care (CIDC) grant. Through these grant contributions, we have launched a project to train VIA program facilitation to health care professionals working directly with persons living with early to mid-stage dementia in long term care facilities and day programs.
