Our Story

Lifetime Arts began as a parking lot conversation between two career arts administrators who were caring for the older adults in their lives.

In 2005, Maura O’Malley and Ed Friedman reconnected while volunteering on a creative aging committee, reigniting a professional relationship that began in New York City’s vibrant arts scene of the ’80s. Both were driven by a shared frustration: their older relatives they were caring for lacked creative and social opportunities. They knew something had to change, and they had the skills to do it.

Despite their busy careers, Maura and Ed spent evenings and weekends brainstorming ways to transform older adult programming. By 2008, their vision had become Lifetime Arts—an nonprofit committed to integrating arts education and social engagement into services for older adults. Their mission was clear: to drive systemic change by providing concrete, practical support to organizations, agencies, and teaching artists, helping them embed creative aging into their work. They aimed to build a robust infrastructure for creative aging, empowering countless older adults to access meaningful, skill-building arts programs that foster social connections and enhance quality of life.

When Lifetime Arts launched, few understood the huge potential of creative aging programs, or how to design and implement them.

Today, creative aging is flourishing in a wonderful variety of approaches! Lifetime Arts stands as a national leader, supporting programs in libraries, arts and cultural organizations, state agencies, and older adult centers across nearly every state.

More importantly, the significant impact creative aging activities can have on mental, physical, and social health is finally being recognized by major research institutions across the world. Lifetime Arts can now expand our focus from primarily equipping folks to lead programs to the larger scale network-building and advocacy which will embed creative aging into the fabric of our communities and the institutions that support them.

Maura and Ed have now passed the torch, but their collaborative spirit and unwavering dedication continue to inspire our team, our colleagues across sectors, and older adults all over the country.