Joint Winner
Norma Hambling
Logan Art Gallery, Logan City Council
Norma Hambling has been a volunteer at Logan Art Gallery since 2011, contributing her time and energy as part of the Gallery’s reception team.
In 2013, National Gallery of Australia (NGA) staff presented a specialised two-day Art and Dementia training workshop. This workshop was a collaboration between the NGA, Logan Art Gallery and Alzheimer’s Australia, supported by Museums & Galleries Queensland.
The workshop was designed to bring together staff and volunteers from the Gallery with local health care providers to establish a program of art tours for people living with Dementia in the Logan region. As a direct result of the workshop, a small group of Gallery staff and volunteers, local health care providers and advisors from Ozcare formed an Art and Alzheimer Support Group to plan and facilitate a monthly schedule of tours at Logan Art Gallery.
Norma Hambling was one of two people who initially volunteered to conduct the tours, and eventually has taken the initiative to lead the program and plan for its sustainable future. She has maintained and led tours; actively sought and trained other volunteers in leading tours; and has shown an extraordinary ability in activating paths of communication with participants – for example, she has incorporated a morning tea after each tour session, as she discovered some participants were more vocal during this social interaction.
The program has had a major impact not only on the participants who are living with Dementia but also their partners, families and carers. Participants look forward to their monthly meetings at the Gallery and appear content and more lucid after each session. Following the success of the first program with participants who are still living in their homes, Norma has recently started a second group in partnership with a local aged care facility – a group who are at a more advanced stage of Dementia.
The continuing survival and success of Logan Art Gallery’s Art and Dementia Program is due to the skill, dedication and tenacity of Norma Hambling.
