Lauren Hafeman
Matthew Sanborn, left, and Jennie Mullins with the 'memory quilt.'
Arts for All Wisconsin’s exhibitions manager, Matthew Sanborn, left, and Jennie Mullins, the lead teaching artist for SPARK!, with the 'memory quilt' created by people with memory loss and their caregivers.
Scissors snip, brushes become sticky with glue. A group of about 10 people are sitting around a table at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center, clipping colorful images from magazines and pasting them on small triangles of construction paper. Before the artists leave the room, they transfer the collaged triangles to a paper “memory quilt,” a group project that is a testament to care and the shared moments that hold people together.
Those working on the memory quilt are at SPARK!, a free Arts for All Wisconsin program that provides cultural and artistic activities for people with memory loss and their caregivers. Jennie Mullins, the lead teaching artist for SPARK!, says the program “provides a means for people with memory loss to express themselves,” while also offering their caregivers “much-needed respite.”
On March 26, the American Association of Retired Persons released a report that found that in 2025 more than 1 million Wisconsinites provide caregiving for older adults, spouses, neighbors and other loved ones, amounting to 560 million hours of unpaid labor each year. Valued at $19.75 per hour in the Wisconsin market, that comes to $11.1 billion annually in labor costs. An estimated 205,000 caregivers provided unpaid care for elderly adults with Alzheimer’s in Wisconsin in 2025, according to a report by the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement.
“This unpaid care generates significant public benefit, including savings for taxpayers, yet it often does so at considerable cost to caregivers’ own health, well‑being, and long‑term economic security,” concludes the American Association of Retired Persons report.
Indeed, according to a 2019 Wisconsin Family and Caregiver and Support Alliance survey, 73% of 612 caregiver respondents said they are not meeting their own needs, while 90% said their physical or mental health has worsened.
Programs like SPARK! are aimed at mitigating the negative mental, physical and economic outcomes of unpaid caregiving by providing caregivers a free opportunity to step away from their caregiving tasks for short periods of time.
“Coming to SPARK! is like a spa day for me. [The teaching artists] do everything for us, and we caregivers get to sit back and relax. We don’t get to do that very often,” said one caregiver who requested to remain anonymous to protect her loved one’s identity.
Mullins points to the communal aspects of SPARK!, noting that “I see caregivers supporting each other here, so that tells me there’s some kind of loneliness or need for companionship with others who understand the demands of caregiving.”
In addition to artistic projects, like collaging for the memory quilt, SPARK! teaching artists lead attendees in musical expression, games and peer-support conversations. At the end of each meeting, Arts for All Wisconsin’s exhibitions manager, Matthew Sanborn, plays his guitar and leads the group in a sing-along. At the January SPARK! meeting Sanborn leads the group in singing Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” and Jimmie Davis’ “You are my Sunshine.”
“The music touches everyone,” says Mullins. “About six months back, a man who is typically non-responsive stood up when the music started and danced with his wife, who is his care provider.
“Being privy to that moment and seeing a care provider get a glimpse of their person again was very moving,” she continues.
SPARK! programs are hosted on the first Friday of each month from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center. Registration information can be found at artsforallwi.org/spark.
