The Enabling Festival 2023/24

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 21 September 2023 - The Enabling Festival in Singapore presents a year-long showcase on the sensory power of Smell for persons living with dementia and their caregivers through an interactive and ever-expanding exhibition, entitled Scented Stories. Curated from over 100 submissions from caregivers and persons living with dementia, the Festival kicks off with 30 smell-stimulated memories and will expand as more individuals contribute their stories during the exhibition’s tour to different communities in Singapore and beyond.

Through this showcase, Festival co-founders and family caregivers Daniel Lim and Danny Raven Tan hope to engage members of the public with favourite smells or the familiar scent of a loved one, as a way to connect meaningfully with others and evoke personal memories. “The sense of Smell is directly linked with memory,” says Lim, who, with Tan, established a dementia awareness social enterprise while providing home care for their respective loved ones living well with dementia. “Our aim is to enable our caregiving communities with fun and accessible tools for living well with dementia, like sensory play with favourite scents, and to provide peer support to those who are currently, or may eventually become, caregivers of a loved one with dementia.”

Scented Stories is an alchemy of memories conjured by Smell through an installation of images, jars, objects, and text that represents diverse “scentimental” stories from all walks of life. Aromas include citrusy peonies, crisp household soaps, smoky joss sticks, sulfury curry leaves, sweet jasmine oil, nose-tickling hair cream, the wild earthiness of fresh rain, raw dirt, and sandy beaches – and more! Through this installation, we want the caregivers and members of the public to connect with their loved ones through the sense of smell and how this can be a catalyst for engagement between generations and their carers. The focus is on the stories and how these objects brings back precious memories, especially for caregivers whose loved ones had passed on.

The Enabling Festival is presented by Enable Asia, a volunteer-driven social enterprise by caregivers, for caregivers, in collaboration with the Dementia-Friendly Singapore (DFSG) initiative and with support from Festival Partners, The Majurity Trust and The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC). This is the Festival’s 6th edition since 2018, following themes of Sight, Sound, Taste, and Touch – and now, Smell, with Festival Director, Jeremiah Choy.

Scented Stories - a touring exhibition (FREE admission)

16 - 30 Sep 2023 - Punggol Regional Library, Singapore

1 - 31 Oct 2023 - Jurong Regional Library, Singapore

To contribute your own Scented Stories, click the Festival padlet link on the Festival website at https://www.enableasia.org/enabling-festival-2023.

The rest of 2023 and 2024 is open for interested partners, collaborators and like-minded organisations in Singapore and neighbouring cities.

To host the exhibition in your community, contact the Festival Team at [email protected].

Workshops in Singapore - by registration with a small fee to support the cause

The SenEssential Oil Workshop - 1 Oct (4pm - 6pm), 15 Oct (9am - 1pm)

Somatic Movements by Vincent Yong, Part 1: Unappreciated - 8 Nov (7.30pm - 8.45pm)

Fidget Cushion - 25 Nov (10.30am - 12.30pm, 2pm - 4.30pm), 2 Dec (2pm - 4.30pm)

For more details and to register, visit https://enablingfestival.peatix.com/

The Little Red Couch - a Facebook ‘Live’ talk series

Like or Follow https://www.facebook.com/EnableASIASG/ to receive the Live notifications.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Daniel Lim +65 9009 8898 [email protected] | Kim Dy-Liacco +63 917 6500631 [email protected]

Hashtag: #enablingfestival #caregiving #caregivers #scentedstories #dementia #enableasia

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