Ms JENNY AITCHISON (Maitland)—As humans we respond to art in many ways. Encountering art might influence our feelings, emotions, thought lines and perhaps inspire us to create. The Maitland Regional Art Gallery has provided these visceral experiences of art for our community very successfully for many years and I commend them on their ongoing efforts. Today particularly I want to focus on the efforts of staff and volunteers at the Gallery in developing innovative and inclusive programming that encourages community members to both experience and explore their responses to the art collection, as well as exploring their own creativity. The Arts and Dementia program encourages people living with dementia and their carers to engage with the collection and then experiment and create within a group. So many positive opportunities present themselves within this unique program to promote social connection and community membership in addition to the thoughts prompted by the art works. I commend the team at the Maitland Regional Art Gallery for developing this program promoting new connections and creativity for often underserviced members of our community and making art more accessible to all.