Created by a new partnership of the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York State Office for the Aging, the Creative Aging Initiative takes an innovative, evidence-based approach to healthy aging, underscoring New York’s leadership as the first age-friendly state in the nation.

Project Goals

• Build the capacity of NYS’s area agencies on aging to develop, implement and sustain creative aging programming
• Seed programs to demonstrate the efficacy of creative aging programming as a core service
• Increase the capacity of NYS teaching artists to facilitate online creative aging programs through a teaching artist mentor program
• Improve the quality of life and reduce social isolation for older New Yorkers through arts education

Project Administration, Training, & Mentoring

This initiative will be administered by Lifetime Arts who will train up to 25 staff members from seven area agencies on aging, plus 75 New York-based teaching artists, and provide implementation support and coaching for funded programming. Upon completion of this training, teaching artists will be eligible to apply to be placed as a paid mentee in an online creative aging program, learning from program instructors and receiving coaching from Lifetime Arts staff.

About the Programming

This programming will build on extensive research demonstrating the role of the arts in improving health outcomes for older adults. Lifetime Arts will match AAAs with programs from our catalogue that best reflect the artistic interests of the older adults in their communities. The programs in the catalogue cover all major arts disciplines, and have been especially designed for remote delivery by teaching artists qualified by Lifetime Arts.

Read our blog post, “Remote Creative Aging Programs Addressed Social Isolation in 7 New York Counties During Pandemic,” to learn more about this statewide initiative and its impact on area agencies on aging staff, teaching artists, Lifetime Arts staff and older adult New Yorkers.