In recent years, Lifetime Arts’ work has focused largely on state, system, and sector-wide capacity building initiatives. Selected projects include the New York State Creative Aging Initiative as well as Creative Aging in Wyoming Public Libraries. We have also worked with the Maryland Department of Education to deliver creative aging training to arts providers and vendors in that state via their MicroCredentials program.
The state agency work accelerated dramatically over the past year. Nineteen state arts agencies engaged Lifetime Arts as part of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies’ groundbreaking initiative Leveraging State Investments in Creative Aging initiative, funded by Aroha Philanthropies. The majority of these engagements center around training and executive coaching.
The end goal here is to prepare State Arts Agencies and their multi-sector partners to integrate creative aging programming into their strategic, operational, and funding work.
Below is an overview of our activity on this front from July through mid-October.
Teaching Artists Training: July 12-14
In July, our Education team led the 6-hour Lifetime Arts Creative Aging Foundations™ training for a cohort of professional teaching artists in Ohio. In October and November, we will provide additional training to this cohort in curriculum development, and in 2022 we will follow up with additional training sessions for senior service organization and library programmers in the state.
Teaching Artists Training: July 19-21
The Vermont Arts Council hired Lifetime Arts to enable teaching artists across the state to design and develop creative aging program curricula.
Earlier in July, our Education team also facilitated a webinar for area agencies on aging and arts council staff. The group learned about the history of the creative aging field, the various areas of practice, the cross-sector nature of the work, and took the first steps toward envisioning creative aging opportunities.
Mixed Cohort: Administrators, Programmers & Teaching Artists: July 26-28
Through a series of presentations and experiential activities, participants in this mixed cohort training gained practical knowledge and access to programming resources to prepare them to develop, design and deliver responsive arts education programs for older adults.
Lifetime Arts will continue working with Kansas through 2022 by providing consulting and coaching/technical assistance services to Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission’s stakeholders.
Curriculum Coaching: July-August
Over the summer Lifetime Arts worked with the teaching artists in Nebraska whom they had trained at the end of May to support them as they developed new creative aging program curricula.
Anne Alston of the Nebraska Arts Council had this to say about working with Lifetime Arts:
“I am enormously appreciative of everyone at Lifetime Arts for your expertise and capable work with our Creative Aging teaching artist cohort. I’m quite sure that even our most experienced artists came away with useful ideas and information. The training you’ve provided helps to lay the groundwork for Nebraska’s new program, and ensures that the artists have the tools to lead successful programs for older adults.”
Mixed Cohort: August 9-11
In August, Lifetime Arts trained a mixed cohort of arts administrators and teaching artists. We will also hold a series of work sessions with these participants through spring 2022 to assist them as they prepare creative aging initiatives in their state.
Part I: August 16-18; Part II: August 23-25; Part III: August 30-September 1; Part IV: September 27-29
The Utah Division of Arts & Museums contracted with us to provide four training series: two targeting cohorts at cultural organizations, one offered to teaching artists, and one aimed at senior service organization staff.
Arts Organization Training: September 13-15
As part of the Creative Aging in Wyoming Public Libraries initiative, a current project with the State Library and the Arts Council, Lifetime Arts has already trained cohorts of librarians and teaching artists across Wyoming.
The Arts Council was also able to participate in the Leveraging State Investments in Creative Aging grant, and as a result hired us to deliver our Creative Aging Foundations training to arts organization staff in that state.
Mixed Cohort Training: September 20-22
The Idaho Commission on the Arts smartly elected to partner with the Division of Veterans Services to focus their creative aging efforts on delivering successful programming to veterans aged 55+ living in state run residences. To date, we have delivered training to a cohort of arts council staff and veteran organization administrators.
This fall, we will provide coaching and technical assistance to the programmers at the three veteran homes. In early 2022, we will conduct another training series offered to teaching artists in Idaho. Lifetime Arts will also oversee the development of pilot arts residences in the state-run veterans homes.
Teaching Artist Training: October 13-15
In October, we trained a cohort of Indiana teaching artists in creative aging curriculum development and design. This winter, we will continue this engagement by providing coaching and technical assistance as teaching artists work to develop new creative aging program curricula. Our curriculum coaching will help prep teaching artists as part of the Lifelong Arts Indiana Fellowship where they will run pilot creative aging residencies in 2022.
Senior Service Organization Training: October 18-20
For the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, we delivered professional development services to teaching artists, arts organization staff, and senior service organization staff. The first two groups were trained in June, and the senior service cohort was trained in October. We will conduct two additional training sessions in November which are part of the state’s Creative Aging Learning Lab Cohort.
