Garden EngAGEment: Cultivating Cultures of Care Through Artful Place-Making

By describing the practices of Garden EngAGEment, a community garden project at Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU), we articulate the concept of <i>artful place-making</i> as an alternative, experiential approach to organizing and teaching care for people with Alzheimer's dementia and other associated dementias (AD/OADs). Drawing from arts-based research, place-based education, and sensory studies, we describe how artful place-making involves the dynamic interplay of <i>knowing, making</i>, and <i>being</i> in the garden where Garden EngAGEment's activities take place. Our analysis describes how Garden EngAGEment, through the process of artful place-making, seeds a new culture of care for health professions training, grows connections through multi-sensorial experiences, and cultivates personal, relational, and community transformations.