Abigail Perry

Abigail Perry is the Audience Researcher at the V&A. With a background in social research prior to joining the heritage sector, she has conducted research with a wide range of audiences, including around health and wellbeing.

Her experience includes ethnography, focus groups, observation and interviews, both within and outside museum settings. She led from an audience research perspective on the consultation with audiences living with dementia included in the presentation today.

Abigail Perry will be speaking at the Museums, Health & Well-Being Summit 2025 :

Beyond museum programming: holistic approaches for visitors living with dementia

The V&A is an accredited dementia-friendly organisation with award-winning dedicated programming. The Gilbert Galleries at the V&A are already a focus for this programming. But, in 2023, we set out to redevelop the galleries as a permanent ‘dementia-friendly’ space, even when programming doesn’t take place. To understand how to achieve this, we consulted people living with dementia and their carers. This has provided us with a wealth of findings that are influencing how we work to form a full museum offer for visitors living with dementia, whilst offering participants the opportunity to input their own voices into a permanent gallery.