About Giving Voice Initiative
Mission
Inspire and equip
Giving Voice Initiative inspires and equips organizations to bring together people with dementia and their care partners to sing in choruses that foster joy, well-being, purpose, and community understanding.
Vision
A dementia-friendly chorus in every community
Giving Voice Initiative leads a worldwide movement to bring dementia-friendly choruses to every community. All people living with dementia and their care partners have access to a vibrant choral community that adds connection, joy, and purpose to their lives.
Values
Joy
We believe in reframing the prevailing narrative of dementia from one of decline and despair to one of well-being and joy.
Innovation
We strive to develop new ways to transform people's experience with dementia.
Empowerment
We believe that singing together builds empowerment, purpose and belonging for people living with dementia and their care partners.
Collaboration
We believe the collective strengths and experiences of our singers, choruses, and partners allow us to more effectively advance a shared mission.
Inclusion
We seek to serve all individuals living with dementia and their care partners, recognizing and celebrating this unique community.
Founders & History
In 2014, Marge Ostroushko and Mary Lenard had a vision: to create a world that thought differently about Alzheimer’s—focusing on what people can do rather than what they can’t. Having had first-hand experience of the power of music on their loved ones living with Alzheimer’s, Mary & Marge began extensive research on music and the brain to truly understand how to create a program that took full advantage of it.
After several months of this research, a specific vision began to emerge, one that combined the evidence-based power of music with community, joy, and purpose. They would create a non-profit, Giving Voice, whose mission would be to create a choral community for people living with Alzheimer’s and their care partners to increase joy, purpose, and overall well-being for its participants while changing the narrative of what it means to be living with Alzheimer’s.
They got to work getting the first Giving Voice Chorus off the ground. They created a detailed program, secured funding, and set out to find an organizational partner who’d be willing to collaborate with them to support this work.
Giving Voice was grateful to form a partnership with MacPhail Center for Music and through this collaboration, Giving Voice launched its first choir under the artistic direction of Jeanie Brindley Barnett. Jeanie was later awarded the honorary title of Founding Artistic Director for her dedicated and impactful contribution to the development and refinement of the Giving Voice program.
This first choir quickly thrived, and seeing this success, Giving Voice was inspired to do more. They wanted to create more choirs in the Twin Cities and support the growth of this movement around the world. Over the next several years, thanks to generous support from donors, sponsors, and varied organizational partnerships, Giving Voice was able to do just that.
Numerous additional Giving Voice choirs in the Twin Cities were launched and the Giving Voice Toolkit was created, a free comprehensive resource that has supported the creation of over 70 self-sustaining dementia-friendly choirs around the world.
Today, Giving Voice is excited to continue to push this mission forward, finding innovative and collaborative ways to equip even more communities with the things they need to fulfill Giving Voice’s ultimate vision: having a dementia-friendly choir in every community.