Bright Shadow

11/06/2026

To celebrate Carers week 2026 we are pleased to share an interview with husband and wife Nigel and Alison, extracted from Issue 3 of Bright Times.

Nigel is a contributor to Bright Times, a first-of-its-kind creative news publication that brings together a team of ten people with dementia working alongside professional journalists, photographers and artists.

If you would like to read this or any previous issue of Bright Times you can sign up here: https://brightshadow.org.uk/bright-times-launches/

08/06/2026

Last month we brought together all five of our groups from across Kent for the all-singing, all-dancing inaugural All Together Now! to mark Dementia Action Week 2026. A merry day made special and spectacular by a dementia choir with enthusiasm and talent to match.

Zest groups from Medway, Whitstable and Dover, plus our two Dementia Chorus groups from Hythe and Ashford - run in partnership with Age UK Hythe Lyminge and Ashford - came together with family and friends for a joyful celebration of the power of creativity.

All of this was made possible by and her epic bike ride from Land's End to Dover in aid of Bright Shadow.

Thank you to The National Lottery Community Fund for supporting Bright Shadow's mission to create ambitious and joyful work with our community of people living with dementia.

24/05/2026

To mark Dementia Action Week 2026, we brought together five of our groups from across Kent for all-singing, all-dancing spectacular All Together Now! at

Our Zest groups from Medway, Whitstable and Dover, as well as our two Dementia Chorus groups, Hythe and Ashford - run in partnership with - came together with family and friends for a joyful celebration of the power of creativity made possible by the amazing and her epic bike ride from Land’s End to Dover in aid of Bright Shadow

24/04/2026

Bright Shadow is a community of artists and people living with dementia creating ambitious work together.

We're now looking for a Fundraising Development Manager to support the next stage of our programme.

https://brightshadow.org.uk/fundraising-development-manager/

23/04/2026

We're fundraising to deliver 60 one-to-one creative sessions for people living with dementia across Kent.

These ambitious, artist-led sessions reach people who are isolated, in crisis, or experiencing a sudden loss of communication skills.

With just 27 days to go, please show your support for this vital programme by donating to our Spacehive below and sharing our campaign far and wide.

https://www.spacehive.com/creative-1-to-1s-for-people-with-dementia-in-kent

21/04/2026

Zest at Home brings professional artists into people's homes to deliver ambitious, one-to-one creative sessions, responding to each person's pace and communication needs.

"Things were getting quite difficult. The one-to-one sessions gave us an outlet and a relief." – Zest at Home participant

29 days left to support our Spacehive – link below!

Every donation, no matter how big or small, grows our community of support and helps us to bring Zest at Home to more people.

https://www.spacehive.com/creative-1-to-1s-for-people-with-dementia-in-kent

20/04/2026

We're hiring!

We're looking for a Fundraising Development Manager to help grow our ambitious creative work with people living with and affected by dementia.

📍 Location: Remote (with some travel)
🗓️ Hours: 3 days per week
🫶 Salary: £38k FTE (pro rata)

Apply here: www.brightshadow.org.uk/fundraising-development-manager

03/04/2026

We're finalists in the Dementia Community UK Dementia Awards 2026! Thank you to all the judges and congratulations to our fellow finalists 🥳

🏆 UK Dementia Awards 2026 Finalists Announced!

We are excited to reveal the finalists for the Creative Arts and Culture in Dementia Award at the UK Dementia Awards 2026 🎉 Congratulations to all of the finalists.

These incredible people are making a real difference in dementia care.

📅 Join us at the awards ceremony: 30 April 2026
📍 Coombe Abbey Hotel, Warwickshire
👉 Book your place: https://buff.ly/exkef9s

20/03/2026

We are delighted to share that The National Lottery Community Fund has awarded Bright Shadow £404,097 over 3 years for our groundbreaking creative health programme Doing Dementia Differently, which will improve the quality of life, reduce isolation, and strengthen community support for people living with dementia and supporters across Kent and Medway.

Doing Dementia Differently builds on 17 years of Bright Shadow’s pioneering, specialist arts practice and more than 7 years of continuous delivery of our Zest Communities model – an innovative creative health approach that supports people living with dementia to live well, remain socially connected, and retain agency and purpose.

With National Lottery Community Fund support, we will:
• Deliver 4 weekly Zest Community arts groups in areas of high need
• Provide creative, relational respite for carers
• Strengthen community voice and self-advocacy through our Open Forums and Campfire Conversations
• Develop and share a Doing Dementia Differently Quality Framework
• Build organisational resilience to sustain and scale this work long-term

This programme responds directly to unmet need, widening health inequalities, and the lack of post-diagnostic support for people living with dementia.

Alongside our other related programmes, Zest at Home, Bright Times and Dementia Choruses, we are excited to be working with our partners to build a vibrant community of people living with and affected by dementia in Kent and Medway who are Doing Dementia Differently.

Thank you to the players of the National Lottery, without whom none of this would be possible; it really could be YOU who has changed a life by buying that ticket.

If you want to start Doing Dementia Differently, or would like to contribute to our community, please get in touch!



Sun Pier House Age UK Hythe Lyminge and Ashford The Riverside Centre, Dover Sahara

13/03/2026

No one living with dementia should feel overlooked or alone. But for many families, isolation can happen quickly – especially during crisis or sudden changes in communication.

That’s why Bright Shadow created Zest at Home.
Professional artists delivering one-to-one creative sessions directly in people’s homes.

If you’d like to help us reach more families,
support Zest at Home on Spacehive today.

bit.ly/zest-at-home

Starring: Bright Shadow participants and artists

Original footage by:
Coral Brookes
Reaction Films
Al Reffel
Zest Coordinators

Music: Wild Emotions by Dagored freetouse.com/music/dagored