Creativity Has No Age

Nathan Majoros, Director of Consulting and Capacity Building:
“I’m always pleasantly surprised at the transformation that occurs when someone who is at first hesitant to take on this type of program, but then becomes a champion for creative aging after experiencing a program. Often, these are people at organizations who are at capacity trying to maintain their basic services and programs—and it can be overwhelming to design and implement something new. However, after witnessing first hand the impact these programs have on older adults, and experiencing authentic joy and connection with their older adult community members, they realize this is a program that is so powerful and needed. Moving from being totally reluctant to advocates is really incredible to see.”

Dane Stauffer, Lifetime Arts Trainer + Theatre/Storytelling Teaching Artist:
“I recently taught a storytelling class held at the Upper Post, a residence established by the Veterans Affairs to house veterans who were previously homeless. In the second class, where the prompt was simple: “Tell a story about your name,” one participant said to another, ‘Mitch, you know I just learned more about you in the last seven-minute story than I’ve known about you in the last seven years I’ve lived down the hall from you.’ This social engagement and community building has taken root in this community—to the point where the participants are coming up with places where their stories should be heard, and which stories to tell saying, ‘Hey, we could turn this into a theatrical piece.’ The ideas are flowing for content and community-building initiatives from the participants themselves.” Read more about Dane’s storytelling program.

Nathan Majoros, Director of Consulting and Capacity Building:
“For me, it’s all about providing the basic building blocks for successful/impactful programs, allowing for organizations and teaching artists to build a program that works for them and their community, then encouraging them to just try it. In my work in consulting and coaching, I’ve found that people really just need encouragement to begin and a space to experiment. I think the best way to build partnership is with the spirit of collaboration and curiosity.”

Julie Kline, Director of Program Strategy:
“Different groups or sectors have different ways into this work. For some, the health benefits are key; for others, the idea of hearing the voices of older adults expressed creatively is what will attract them. Skill-building and lifelong learning—or social connection leading to social cohesion—are other things that might drive their interest and commitment. Often, folks are already engaging older adults creatively and might not call it ‘creative aging.’ I think in building partnerships, we want to find out what serves our possible partner’s interest—and serves our mutual goals—and go from there.”

Dane Stauffer, Lifetime Arts Trainer + Theatre/Storytelling Teaching Artist:
“Simply put, clear communication of the benefits of this work.”

Jade Lam, Lifetime Arts Trainer + Chinese Brush Painting Teaching Artist:
“Building trust is important. Also, it is helpful to discuss roles and responsibilities.”

Nathan Majoros, Director of Consulting and Capacity Building:
“Creative aging helps dispel the misconception that aging—the process of growing older—is an inherently negative thing. Creative aging helps us to imagine and create a world where it’s ok to age (a process that everyone alive is doing).”

Julie Kline, Director of Program Strategy:
“Creative aging combats our society’s tendency to silence older adults and render them invisible. We all benefit when we get to enjoy the creations and witness the stories of the elder members of our communities.”  

Dane Stauffer, Lifetime Arts Trainer + Theatre/Storytelling Teaching Artist:
“It upends the ‘self talk’ of aging i.e. ‘I’m done. I blew it. It’s all over. I guess no one wants to hear from me anymore…'”

Jade Lam, Lifetime Arts Trainer + Chinese Brush Painting Teaching Artist:
“The biggest misconception to me is that ‘creativity declines with age.’ Creative aging programs help to prove that older adults can learn, adapt, and create original, meaningful work, often with the advantage of lived experience.”

Antonia Perez, Lifetime Arts Trainer + Drawing/Painting Teaching Artist:
“The biggest misconceptions about aging held by many in the general public are that older adults stop growing, stop learning, stop making discoveries about themselves and no longer have much to contribute to society. Nothing could be farther from the truth and the learning, growing, invention and self-discovery that happens in creative aging classrooms are strong evidence of that. In these classes, older adult students acquire new knowledge of skills, develop and practice those skills and create works of art of their own invention—a clear manifestation of that learning and growth. The presentations at the culminating events of these classes are exciting cultural exchanges between audiences and artists. In addition, through this process of learning and creating together, older adult students engage in dialogue and develop new friendships. This is one of the ways they contribute to the well-being of their communities.”

Nathan Majoros, Director of Consulting and Capacity Building:
“There’s several levels to this. First, we’re looking for if participants learned something new, created or deepened connections to other people, and experienced joy in doing so. I think that’s a major success if just those things happen. Then, we’re looking to see if organizations are recognizing the benefits of creative aging programs and are able to sustain programming. That’s when we start to see organizations embed creative aging into their programs and services. Finally, we’re looking to see the impact on the broader community and starting to challenge their biases about aging.”

Julie Kline, Director of Program Strategy:
“A key part of our success measures are—after attending a training or coaching with us, are folks’ actually trying out engaging with older adults creatively in their community? Even a small first class or arts engagement is a win. Once folks ‘see it in action’ and witness the impacts—on older adult participants as well as those leading or teaching classes—they almost always want to keep going.  Trying it out and learning and adjusting—all of that is part of lifelong learning, and creative aging program development!”

Dane Stauffer, Lifetime Arts Trainer + Theatre/Storytelling Teaching Artist:
“Through assessment, evaluation and direct feedback from the participants. We have an evaluation system that gathers feedback after every presentation.”

Jade Lam, Lifetime Arts Trainer + Chinese Brush Painting Teaching Artist:
“Seeing the responses of the culminating events often can tell how impactful and successful the program is.”

Nathan Majoros, Director of Consulting and Capacity Building:
“My best advice is to start with some community assessments and to avoid making any assumptions about what older adults want or need. The number one fear that I’ve seen from people trying to start a program has been that nobody is going to show up. Over the 10 years of coaching and consulting that I’ve done—and nearly 1,000 creative aging programs I’ve seen piloted—90% of those programs have been successful because they began with making decisions based upon having a deep understanding of who they are trying to reach and how they would like to participate.”

Julie Kline, Director of Program Strategy:
“The time is now. With the older adult population set to outnumber those under age 18 in a mere nine years or less, we need to embed creative aging opportunities in our communities to be available to the widest swath possible—and we need to be sure programs and engagements are accessible, responsive, and low-cost. With this demographic shift, we all need to consider ourselves part of ‘aging services’—and set up the creative possibilities we want to be available for us all as we age!”

Dane Stauffer, Lifetime Arts Trainer + Theatre/Storytelling Teaching Artist:
“Do it! This is rewarding and important work. And with decades of experience in this burgeoning field, Lifetime Arts is a perfect partner with which to plan, grow and change.”

Jade Lam, Lifetime Arts Trainer + Chinese Brush Painting Teaching Artist:
“Start with respect, not assumptions and know your strengths.”