Lifetime Arts Featured in Inaugural Creative Aging Track at National Guild Conference

To meet the growing demand for Creative Aging programming across the U.S., for the first time ever, the National Guild for Community Arts Education introduced a Creative Aging Track at their 82nd national conference held recently in Austin, TX.

The Conference brought together more than 700 leaders and educators from all backgrounds to share knowledge, build relationships, and advance a common vision: a nation where arts education is accessible and embraced as essential for human development and healthy communities.

This year, Lifetime Arts was joined by several other visionary and creative change makers from across the country, the city of Austin, and throughout Texas to showcase their progressive work in the arts and to examine and challenge inequity, engender hope, and promote connected, creative communities.

“The conference felt different this year,“ said Maura. “We connected with so many delegates who were not only aware of the Creative Aging movement – but were actively seeking ways to get involved. It was gratifying to see how our partnership with the Guild has moved this field forward with more and more Guild members across the country rethinking their work with older adults.”

Lifetime Arts CEO, Maura O’Malley, and Director of Education, Annie Montgomery, helped to guide the development of the new track and traveled to Austin along with our Trainer, Julie Kline, to deliver two sessions; the Catalyzing Creative Aging Institute, and Arts Equity: Combating Ageism to Fuel Creative Aging Programs, Funders and Partnerships.

Catalyzing Creative Aging Institute

On October 30, Annie and Julie were joined by Maria Genne, founder of Kairos Alive in Minneapolis, MN, to lead a full-day pre-conference workshop titled, “Catalyzing Creative Aging Institute,” part of National Guild’s 2019-2020 Catalyzing Creative Aging Program, a multi-phase initiative designed to support the establishment of new creative aging programs at nonprofit arts education organizations nationwide. Twenty organizations from the Catalyzing Creative Aging cohort were selected through a competitive application process in order to participate in this session.

“[Maria] has been doing this work for a long time and can really speak to intangible qualities a teaching artist needs in this kind of work — flexibility, compassion, and humor,” said Annie. “She has a real passion for this work and it was very cool to hear her story.”

The cohort gained a deeper understanding of current research and funding trends in Creative Aging, learned best practices for designing and implementing arts education programs for older adults and strategies for recruiting and retaining older adult participation. They examined effective practices in program design and implementation, and the impact of ageism and generational differences in this work through experiential exercises and case studies.

“Everyone was completely engaged with the work, involved, and working creatively together,” said Annie about a theatre workshop led by Julie. “It really demonstrated the best practices of lesson design and allowed them to be art makers together and take risks — very much the way older adults students feel when they are in a creative aging class.”

National Leaders in Creative Aging Address Ageism Head On

On November 2, nationally-recognized gerontologists, practitioners, funders, and aging service organization partners joined Annie Montgomery for a session titled, “Age Equity: Combating Ageism to Fuel Creative Aging Programs, Funders and Partnerships.”

During the session, the speakers shared how their organizations are addressing ageism head on and advancing creative aging in communities across the country:

Keynote speaker Teresa Sansone Ferguson, Executive Director at AustinUp, a community alliance committed to making Central Texas a place where older adults can live full and engaged lives, talked about how they work directly with stakeholders to address policy and raise awareness for ageist practices that place barriers on older adults
Teresa Bonner, Executive Director at Aroha Philanthropies, delivered a case study that addressed ageism as it relates to funding priorities
Eliza Kiser, Executive Director at Pullen Arts Center in Raleigh, and Carmen Santos-Robson, Assistant Director of Development at the Newark School of the Arts, shared how their organizations are including Creative Aging opportunities in their list of services, and how their organization’s cultures are beginning to shift as a result of these programs.
Ken Bloomer, Activities Director at Alamo Recreation Center in Austin, spoke about the positive impact that Creative Aging programs have on the center’s participants: “Their confidence has grown, the center is more active, and they know each other so much better now.”

The session concluded with a robust art-making session, where attendees co-created poems inspired by how they feel about ageism and their own aging processes.

Our Partnerships Continue to Drive Creative Aging Forward

When asked what attendees learned about Creative Aging programming, ageism and older adults, Maura replied, “This experience provided a solid and inspiring path forward into the Creative Aging movement. The Guild’s members come to this work already committed to community arts engagement — but working with older adults through sequential, skill-building programming is new — and requires a shift in approach and tone.”

“This is new work for most — the members were grateful for the coaching, the information, the resources and were inspired to dive deeper and make this programming a reality for their communities,” added Maura.

“The conference felt different this year,“ said Maura. “We connected with so many delegates who were not only aware of the Creative Aging movement – but were actively seeking ways to get involved. It was gratifying to see how our partnership with the Guild has moved this field forward with more and more Guild members across the country rethinking their work with older adults.”

Photo and video credit: Annie Montgomery