Garden EngAGEment: Cultivating Cultures of Care Through Artful Place-Making.

Abstract

By describing the practices of Garden EngAGEment, a community garden project at Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU), we articulate the concept of artful place-making as an alternative, experiential approach to organizing and teaching care for people with Alzheimer's dementia and other associated dementias (AD/OADs). Drawing from arts-based research, place-based education, and sensory studies, we describe how artful place-making involves the dynamic interplay of knowing, making, and being in the garden where Garden EngAGEment's activities take place. Our analysis describes how Garden EngAGEment, through the process of artful place-making, seeds a new culture of care for health professions training, grows connections through multi-sensorial experiences, and cultivates personal, relational, and community transformations.