The Art of Care: practical, playful, and powerful ways to connect in dementia care.
Parallel 5
18 November, 2026 2:10 – 3:20 pmCultivating Champions: Staff Development and Compassionate Support in Care Homes
Rachael Savage is Artistic Director of Vamos Theatre, the UK’s leading full mask theatre company. She has pioneered Vamos Theatre’s work across education and health, served as Mask Director at the RSC, and is a member of the Prime Minister’s Focus Group on Dementia. Since creating the award-winning Finding Joy in 2013, she has been a leading advocate for the arts as a tool for change in health and social care.
Summary
Rachael Savage, Artistic Director of Vamos Theatre (Arts Council England funded) is one of the UK’s leading experts in non-verbal communication and arts in health. Since 2014, over 183,000 people have experienced Rachael and Vamos Theatre’s performances and training – from Finland to Texas, Shanghai to Doncaster and beyond. This engaging and entertaining whistlestop talk explains Rachael’s interactive performances and training created for care homes and gives an insight into her working methods, which emphasise listening deeply, making genuine connections and nurturing playful acceptance. Her international, ground-breaking work aims to bring culture change to dementia care settings, and this experience has culminated in the creation of an online training course, The Art of Care.



