Raising the Curtain

Well, I ended up in the Yukon because I got a job…” 

So starts Marguerite Ceschi-Smith’s epic autobiographical comic book, created as part of the Imagination Network’s Raising the Curtain project. Launched in 2017 and based in BC’s Sunshine Coast, the program uses community-engaged arts practice to explore the lived experience of dementia. 

 Image courtesy of Raising the Curtain project.

Ceschi-Smith’s comic book covers a lot of ground. Throughout the story, the former art school student works as a swim instructor in a remote northern community. She mans a 65-foot-high fire tower deep in the bush. She meets her future husband. Finally, she moves to Brantford, Ont., kicking off a 15-year stint in municipal politics. Hand-drawn images show the former city councillor cycling to City Hall — and facing down occasional hostility from her male counterparts.

Aging and dementia are usually associated with tragedy or loss, and projects like Raising the Curtain are the opposite.

– Bruce Devereaux, Recreation and Volunteer Manager at Good Samaritan Canada Christenson Village

“I raised a little hell,” says Ceschi-Smith today, recalling her time as an environmentalist and advocate of women in politics. 

Ceschi-Smith’s story is triumphant and engaging, providing a vivid counterpoint to mainstream narratives about people living with dementia.

“Aging and dementia are usually associated with tragedy or loss, and projects like Raising the Curtain are the opposite. We can show what happens as a time of growth and possibility for our participants,” says Bruce Devereaux, Recreation and Volunteer Manager at Good Samaritan Canada Christenson Village, the care home where much of Raising the Curtain’s programming has been based.

 Image courtesy of Raising the Curtain project.

Designed as a multi-year workshop series (divided into seasonal blocks), Raising the Curtain explores and shares the lived experience of dementia via skits, presentations, songs and other formats. Each workshop series leads to a community theatrical performance (last year’s was virtual, due to COVID-19). 

Participants use varied media — including photography, drawing, painting, puppetry and improv — to share their perspectives. At the same time, a team of researchers, led by Dr. Colleen Reid of Douglas College’s Department of Therapeutic Recreation, assesses the program’s impact. 

Reid and her team are measuring participants’ feelings of inclusion, community engagement, health and well-being. They are also looking at the ways in which social stigma and ageism affect the health and well-being of people living with dementia on a systemic level. Though the team is still in the early stages of assessing and sharing their findings, the hope is that their insights could lead to improvements both in how people diagnosed with dementia live, and in the social supports they and their families receive within their communities.

The positive feelings from being at Raising the Curtain would last days.

– Tegan Ceschi-Smith, daughter of Raising the Curtain participant Marguerite Ceschi-Smith

 Image courtesy of Raising the Curtain project.

For Tegan Ceschi-Smith, Marguerite’s daughter, Raising the Curtain has been a revelation. “The positive feelings from being at Raising the Curtain would last days,” Tegan says. “We wouldn't necessarily remember what happened, but the feelings of kinship, belonging and joy lasted for days afterwards. And we have these documents; we have the story of my mom's life to look at and feel proud about.” 

Chad Herschler, Artistic and Executive Director of Deer Crossing — The Art Farm (the program’s arts partner), believes the program’s multimedia approach is part of the reason for the level of engagement it brings about with participants. 

“Some individuals are more verbal, and enjoy spoken word, poetry, song creation or storytelling,” says Herschler. “Others really enjoy abstract expression like mark-making, and others love the tactile [aspect] of sculpture. And then there are surprises! We had one participant who was really clear that she had no intention of performing — ever — but when the costumes came out [for] a stage rehearsal, she was the first one there! Something magical happened.”

 Image courtesy of Raising the Curtain project.

This is the magic that Bruce Devereaux, at Christianson Village, hopes will help to change how long-term care programs operate, while also providing a new way of looking at life’s third act as a period of creative rebirth. 

“Instead of say, moving into a ‘space of care,’ like Christianson Village, what if you were moving into a ‘space of creativity’” says Devereaux. “Then the question would be: how would you comprise a community for such a space?”

Insights from Raising the Curtain and similar programs across Canada may provide direction for such models in the future.