Tag: Connect Through Creativity

“Peace 4 the Ages” Forges Intergenerational Bonds During COVID-19

Older adult singers participate in an outdoor, in-person performance while wearing PPE.

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 …

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Keeping Generations Connected at New England Conservatory

A screenshot of older adults during a live interactive zoom performance.

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.

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Online Choir Program Retains “Friendships, Solidarity and Community”

A screenshot of a choir instructor teaching vocal exercises.

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.

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“Tell me about a time when you were resilient.”

A screenshot of participants in a collage.

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.” 

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Stagebridge Explores an Infinite Digital Landscape

Participants engage in an online workshop session.

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.

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Finding an “Oasis in the Abyss”

A participant shares photos during an online memoir workshop.

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.

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The Home/Body Warm-up for Homebound Times

Participants pose in a group photo.

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. 

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Myriad Ways to Tap Older Adults’ Creativity and Combat Social Isolation

An older adult sewist creates surgical gowns for local hospitals in Baton Rouge.

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 …

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Online Storytelling Class at The Wallis Retains Intimacy of In-person Workshop

A student participating in the "Staged Stories," program on Zoom.

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.

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DOROT’s Online Arts Ed Programs “Put the Light Back into My Heart”

Pictured are participants in one of DOROT's Onsite@Home classes via Zoom.

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.

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Online “Pop-Up Pages” Workshop Offered to Older Adults in Queens, NY

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 …

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Final Critiques and Closure via Google Hangouts in San Juan

Participants engage in the Zoom workshop, "Autorretrato en Medios Mixto," a program by the Museum de Historia, Antropología y Arte.

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.

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Teaching Creative Aging Classes Online: 1. Troubleshoot, 2. Don’t Sweat the Details

Teaching Artist, John LeoNimm leads his students through warm-ups during an online class.

“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.”

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