Bigger Hearts Dementia Choir is launching a fundraising drive, including a special concert next month, to ensure the group can remain active for members after a funding bid fell through.

Celebrated conductor Geoff Hassall has joined the group in the past couple of months after well-known orchestra conductor Mark Shiell's work duties have taken him back to Melbourne. Experienced pianist Jane Nice remains accompanying the choir.

Bigger Hearts Dementia Choir co-founder Kerrie Shiell said the program tended to operate on "a lot of goodwill" but members were determined to find ways to stay together singing.

"It's less about musicality and more about singing together," Dr Shiell said. "It's really about people who are isolated and bringing them together."

The choir was formed in May last year when Dr Shiell and her brothers saw a documentary about a dementia choir in Nottingham, England. They sprang into action to adapt the program in Ballarat for people with dementia and their loved ones.

Dr Shiell has worked with people who have dementia in Ballarat for more than 15 years. She said studies worldwide showed music could improve symptoms of depression in people with dementia.

In Ballarat, Dr Shiell has found a noticeable joy in people leaving choir sessions and even though some might not later remember having been to choir, their mood was buoyed for a couple of days.

The number of Victorians living with dementia is set to double in the next 35 years. There were more than 3100 people living with dementia in Ballarat, figures from before the pandemic showed.

Dementia most commonly develops in people aged 65-plus and Ballarat has the compounding factor of an above-average aging population. The Ballarat region's median age, including Daylesford, was 42 years, according to the 2021 Australian Census data. This remains clear above the national (38) and state (37) median averages.

What Ballarat has in its favour is recognition as one of Victoria's seven dementia-friendly cities.

Dr Shiell said new conductor Mr Hassell's experience with the region's aphasia-friendly singing group, Chatterbox Choir, was proving invaluable. Chatterbox Choir has also proven to boost the mood and confidence of participants.

Bigger Hearts Choir is campaigning via fundraising platform gofundme.com. Planning is under way for a concert to cap off national dementia awareness month in September.

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