From my own work creating original theater with, and about, the real lives of older adults, I know firsthand that the research is correct. It is the social interaction part of arts education that is of the greatest physical and mental benefit to older adults.
On August 25, Lifetime Arts' Education Associate, Julie Kline, will deliver the virtual workshop, "Creative Aging During COVID," part of the 2020 Mid-Atlantic Teaching Artists Virtual Retreat. This event will take place via online video conferences over a period of four weeks, from August 10 through September 2, 2020.
Teaching Artist, Susan Willerman, was teaching her workshop, “Writing From Life” at Morningside Retirement and Health Services in Washington Heights, NYC before COVID-19 halted her teachings. With the help from one of her students, Susan shifted her memoir workshop to an online format, allowing her students to maintain connection and inspiration through writing during the crisis.
When the COVID crisis hit, DOROT was determined to continue serving their community members, who have come to appreciate high-quality arts programming and social interaction with their friends and staff. In just one month, DOROT was able to move all of their onsite programs to what they are calling DOROT Onsite @Home via Zoom video conferencing.
On September 30, Lifetime Arts’ Director of Education, Annie Montgomery and Education Associate, Julie Kline, will deliver an interactive virtual session on the topic of creative aging programming during COVID-19, part of the 2020 Louisiana Arts Summit and hosted by the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge in partnership with the Louisiana Division of the Arts.
The Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, part of the Seeding Vitality Arts in Museums Cohort, were at the end of their self-portrait program when COVID-19 impacted in-person programming. With two classes left unfinished, the museum's staff and teaching artist joined forces to design and implement an online session which gave students the opportunity to socially engage with one another, share their culminating work, and end the program as a community.
Since March 2020, the CMC has developed several new ways to adapt their Older Adult Choir Program (OACP), which serves nearly 400 older adults in senior centers throughout San Francisco, to a successful online learning platform. To keep their dynamic choir communities connected during COVID-19, the center worked with their senior center partners to create remote instructional videos and zoom sessions.
Earlier this year Michael Matthew Ferrell, founder of Alive & Kickin’, a touring vocal ensemble of older adults “who rock,” collaborated with Sandy Boren-Barett, the CEO and Artistic Director of Stages Theatre Company, an educational theatre program for children and youth, to create the intergenerational music program, “Peace 4 the Ages.” The program paired older adults and …
John Prine died this past week — a victim of Covid19. "Hello in There" is being performed and shared again, and is a potent reminder of the toll this pandemic is taking on older adults in particular — and it is a call for us all to reach out.
“We're all doing this really new and hard thing by trying to translate in person experiences to the virtual platform,” he says, “Don't stress yourself out trying to make it perfect. Be upfront with folks about the experiment of it and leave space for them to give feedback.”
“I think Zoom is a good platform because our members have the option to call in [by phone] — even from a landline,” said Laura Marceca, Director of Greenwich House Senior Center on the Square. Laura has been thrilled to see that classes are very well attended and are attracting new students.
When COVID-19 forced teachers and students to shelter in place, Stagebridge’s programming was between sessions. Staff were able to take this time to decide how to proceed with their popular Performing Arts Institute, and discovered that the digital shift to online learning could be the next step to building their community of artists and older adult learners.
For the past three years, teaching artist, Dane Stauffer, has been teaching his storytelling programs to the same group of students at the Park Square Theater in Minneapolis, MN. Dane was in the middle of teaching his program when COVID-19 forced the theater to close. With Park Square Theater’s blessing, Dane shifted his program to an online format and reclaimed it as, “Storytellers Online: Bringing Our Stories to the World.”
Lifetime Arts Roster Teaching Artist, Greacian Goeke, has been teaching her signature class, “Free to Move: Expressive Movement & Rhythm for Brain & Body Health,” at the Albany Senior Center outside of Oakland, CA for the last 10 years. When COVID-19 forced the Albany Senior Center to shut down and in-person programming and live performances to disband, Greacian immediately reached out to her students to continue her weekly movement classes via Zoom.
While our campaign, “Connect Through Creativity Now,” highlights teaching artists, arts and service organizations working within the traditional Creative Aging model (sequential learning, skill-building, social-engagement) while stay-at-home orders prohibit in-person social gatherings, there are a number of other efforts emerging that warrant mention. Below are several examples of others working outside the traditional model, who …
Debra Pasquerette, teaching artist and Manager of Community Engagement at The Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts in Beverly Hills CA, was teaching, “Staged Stories,” a storytelling/memoir program when the crisis forced her to cancel the culminating event. Debra designed a new extended curriculum that stretches well beyond the original eight week series that allows students to meet every week through a two-hour Zoom session.
MAKING A POP-UP MEMORY PAGE with Spica Wobbe & Karen Oughtred | PART 1: Materials and Tools | Making the Base Page Queens, NY is one of the most international places in the world. The Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts have set up a program called FTH at Home: Global Arts for Global …
Teaching artist and Lifetime Arts Trainer, Vinny Mraz, was teaching his third "Comedy Workshop" to students at the Wartburg in Mt. Vernon, NY, before he had to disband the class due to the COVID crisis. While the program is on pause, he continues to share his appreciation for his students by painting their portraits and sharing them on his Instagram.
Like many arts service organizations, Lifetime Arts is recalibrating its offerings to best suit the circumstances surrounding COVID-19. Our #ConnectThruCreativityNow campaign is just one of the things that we are doing to advocate for continued artistic and social engagement for older adults while under quarantine. Below you may access all of our campaign posts, which will also …
After 15 years of leading Lifetime Arts, our beloved and tremendously visionary co-founder and CEO, Maura O’Malley will be officially “rewiring” at the end of this year. No, that isn’t a typo. Rewiring is an alternative to retiring. It underscores that as we age and move through different life stages, we continue to learn, create, and try …
We are deeply saddened by the recent passing of Ann deVere, a veteran teaching artist, architect, and Lifetime Arts Trainer. As a native New Yorker with a visual arts concentration in printmaking, Ann taught classes and workshops in public schools, cultural centers, and arts organizations throughout NYC, in addition to implementing arts programming for all ages. Throughout her teaching artist career, she engaged her students in critical discourse, concept development, and creative problem solving — all the while drawing upon their imaginations. Her students developed a sense of their own capabilities, discovered their ideas have value, and learned how they can enrich the environments around them.
In this post, we highlight a series of programs that are happening this summer as part of new and ongoing creative aging initiatives.
"What has been fascinating to me ... is that each arts agency — whether with a staff of 10 or 100 — has embraced this opportunity with serious, strategic and passionate effort," said Maura O'Malley.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 16, 2021 CONTACT Jenina Podulka, National Guild for Community Arts Education jeninapodulka@nationalguild.org nationalguild.org Shannon McDonough, Lifetime Arts smcdonough@lifetimearts.org Research shows participatory arts learning for older adults provides significant wellness benefits critical to counteracting social isolation New York, NY—The National Guild for Community Arts Education and Lifetime Arts are pleased to announce that …
On February 10, 2021, Lifetime Arts' Director of Education, Annie Montgomery and Pushcart Prize Nominated Poet, Mary Moore Easter, will present the virtual workshop, "Combating Ageism in a Socially Distanced World," during the National Guild for Community Education's online learning series, Rootwork. During the workshop, participants will learn how creative aging arts education programs combat ageism and are a pathway to reconnect older adults to one another, and to their communities in the midst of the pandemic.
When the pandemic initially hit, NEC knew they had to quickly adapt to a virtual world and maintain the connection between their older adult students, faculty, college students and community partners. Faculty and staff addressed this head-on and transitioned their two older adult music programs to a responsive and interactive virtual format.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Shannon McDonough Lifetime Arts smcdonough@lifetimearts.org This innovative collaboration promotes wellness and combats social isolation through anti-ageism training and community-based arts education programming. NEW ROCHELLE, NY: Today, Lifetime Arts announced that in addition to the professional development training for teaching artists and library programmers previously announced as part of the Creative Aging …
