Greenwich House Brings Classes Online, Launches Virtual Art Show

Comedian, Jo Firestone engages with participants from the Greenwich House Senior Center in her Zoom class, "Comedy Workshop."
Comedian, Jo Firestone (top left) engages with participants from the Greenwich House Senior Center in her Zoom class, “Comedy Workshop.” Credit: Jo FIrestone

Greenwich House, founded in 1902, has been a pillar of community social services for Greenwich Village for nearly 120 years. They operate four senior centers in New York City, and membership is free.  The organization aims to provide programs that meet the social, educational, and physical needs of their members. They currently serve over 1,800 people; daily participation in the centers was typically around 400 people prior to the pandemic. During the COVID-19 crisis the team has worked tirelessly to ensure that all of their members have access to the meal services that they absolutely rely on.

Comic Jo Firestone Doesn’t Mind The Heckling

In the midst of all this lifesaving work, they are also pivoting many of their live programs to an online format. Their teachers are quickly adapting to teaching via Zoom, and have worked with the Greenwich House communications team to post about 40% of their Seniors Online Learning Center classes online. 

“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.

Brooklyn-based comedian, Jo Firestone, was three weeks into teaching “Comedy Workshop” at Greenwich House before the crisis hit. Laura and Celeste Kaufman, Manager of Marketing and Communications, made sure that Jo had access to the Zoom set-up so that the workshop could go on.

Jo says the class is a great way to start the week – especially now: “It’s very encouraging to see people laughing at each other’s jokes and stories. Even the heckling is nice to hear, because all of us are craving social interaction.” 

Artistic Expression Deemed “Still Important”

Andrea Newman, Assistant Executive Director at Greenwich House, shared that the ceramic artists are making a very personal connection with their older adult students by calling them directly to simply check in and talk about art.

In fact, Greenwich House staff has made several thousand wellness calls to their senior center members, and from those calls, they assessed that their members had a real desire to share their artistic work.

Consequently, they asked their members who are creating art at home to submit photos of their work to a Virtual Art Show so that they can share their work with the whole community. Below are some examples of the participant artwork featured in the online show. 

By Mayda Rumberg

By Mayda Rumberg

By Desiree Rodriguez

Laura has found it especially comforting to be in touch with her members at Senior Center on the Square, and has made it a priority to hold a daily one-hour conference call with them to assess how everyone is doing.

Each member’s capacity and comfort level with technology varies, so Greenwich House has also posted several pre-recorded videos to their programs page for additional on-demand classes in dance, Zumba, Tai Chi, music enrichment, and others. Laura also recommends Senior Planet as resource to assist with technical issues. 

“The only way we can connect at this time is through virtual programming,” said Laura. “I would encourage other senior centers [who have available staff and resources] to create some virtual programs or offerings so seniors can feel connected.”

::

Greenwich House was part of the 2017-2018 Catalyzing Creativity Initiative cohort, designed and administered by Lifetime Arts and funded by The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation’s Healthy Aging Program with additional support from the New York State Council on the Arts and Aroha Philanthropies.

#ConnectThruCreativityNow Campaign

Like many arts service organizations, Lifetime Arts is recalibrating its offerings to best suit the circumstances surrounding COVID-19.

#ConnectThruCreativityNow is just one of the things that we are doing to advocate for continued artistic and social engagement for older adults while under quarantine.

View All Posts

Share Your Story

Tell us how you are reaching out to older adults during this time. Thank you!

What’s Your Story?