Building Partnerships Across Systems Serving Older Adults

Creative Aging Without Walls: Building Partnerships Across Systems Serving Older Adults

What happens when creative aging connects with systems serving older adults who are too often overlooked? Join fellow practitioners in the New York State Creative Aging Leaders Network for our fourth convening as we explore how partnerships with New York State prisons can expand access to creative aging for incarcerated older adults—and what this collaboration can teach us about building partnerships across systems that are often siloed and marginalized.

Through a lively conversation between Tyler Barton, Artistic Director at Writers & Books, and Suzanne Orlando, Senior Librarian at Adirondack Correctional Facility (DOCCS), we’ll examine how arts organizations and teaching artists can build lasting partnerships within correctional settings, an increasingly important opportunity as New York State’s incarcerated population continues to age. Together, they’ll share practical strategies, lessons learned, and best practices for bringing creative aging—and its associated health benefits—to incarcerated older adults. More than a case study, this conversation will highlight how this partnership can inspire new collaborations across aging-serving systems, helping bring creative aging to older adults wherever they are.

Optional read: This recent New York State report, Post-COVID Trends in New York’s Aging Prison Population from the Office of the New York State Comptroller, underscores the growing need for programs and policies that support an aging prison population.

All New York State Creative Aging Network Convenings aim to accomplish these desired outcomes:

1. Connection with other creative aging practitioners working in New York State
2. Support for strengthening your work and advancing creating aging in our region