New York Community Trust Awards $600K Grant for Creative Aging in NYC

Lifetime Arts to lead major effort to advance Creative Aging movement in NYC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 3, 2018

New Rochelle, NY — Lifetime Arts, Inc. announced today the receipt of a $600,000 grant from The New York Community Trust (NYCT) in support of a two-year effort to evaluate and strengthen Creative Aging programs in New York City. Taught by professional teaching artists, Creative Aging programs are arts education courses for older adults in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Three significant and interrelated national trends highlight the need for Creative Aging programs and their proven benefits:

  • The enormous growth in the nation’s older adult population demands more relevant services and programs that meet the varied needs of the multiple generations that comprise the 50-100 age cohort;
  • An emerging awareness on the part of arts, cultural, and community organizations to change their approach to programming for “seniors” away from passive entertainment toward active engagement and continuous learning;
  • Research shows that older adults who participate in arts education programs experience not only the fulfilling joys of artistic creation but report improvements in their physical health and social well-being.

Lifetime Arts will conduct more than 20 live training sessions around New York City designed to educate and inspire the staffs of over 250 senior centers, 50 arts organizations as well as up to 175 individual teaching artists. In partnership with LiveOn NY and Dr. Ruth Finkelstein, incoming Director of the Brookdale Center on Aging at Hunter College, efforts will focus on SU-CASA, the city’s community arts engagement initiative serving older adults. Jointly administered by the New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) and the Department for the Aging (DFTA), SU-CASA is the largest program of its kind in the U.S, operating in senior centers across 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs.

Maura O’Malley, co-founder, and CEO of Lifetime Arts said:

We are sincerely grateful to The Trust and commend them for their commitment to the city’s growing population of adults aged 55 and older. This grant will position Lifetime Arts to play a key role in continued development, education, and expansion of New York City’s capacity to provide fulfilling and healthy arts education opportunities to the older adult community.

For more information or to request an interview, please contact Ed Friedman at efriedman@lifetimearts.org or (914) 355-2304.

About NYCT

The New York Community Trust connects past, present, and future generous New Yorkers with vital nonprofits working to make a healthy, equitable, and thriving community for all. It is a public grantmaking foundation dedicated to improving the lives of residents of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island.

Visit us at nycommunitytrust.org.