News
A Rapidly Growing Movement
Outdated language and narratives perpetuate ageism, often unintentionally. We can and must do better. This communications toolkit from FrameWorks Institute and this Quick Guide to Avoid Ageism in Communication provide practical, concrete examples and guidelines.
Prestigious institutions across the world are also championing the potential of older adults:
- The World Health Organization has prioritized the elimination of ageism in its Global Report on Ageism, which “outlines what strategies work to prevent and counter ageism, identifies gaps and proposes future lines of research to improve our understanding of ageism.”
- The Stanford Center for Longevity recently introduced its New Map of Life initiative, which will “define new models for education and lifelong learning… and advance a new narrative, which redefines what it means to be ‘old’ and values people at different stages of life.”
- Columbia University’s Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center “seeks to bring about a Third Demographic Dividend: a new stage of societal development in which all ages and society broadly can benefit from the opportunities of longer lives. This will require… enabling older adults to use their many assets to help solve unmet societal needs through roles with meaning and purpose.”
- The MIT AgeLab “applies consumer-centered systems thinking to understand the challenges and opportunities of longevity and emerging generational lifestyles to catalyze innovation across business markets.”
- New books showcase new attitudes about aging and ageism, including Ageism Unmasked: Exploring Ageism and How to End It by Tracey Gendron, PhD, Virginia Commonwealth University; The Longevity Economy: Unlocking the World's Fastest-Growing, Most Misunderstood Market by Joseph Coughlin, PhD, MIT; and Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live by Becca Levy, PhD, Yale.
We urge you to look into these resources and share with your networks.
Report on Older Americans & the Arts
We are pleased to announce the release of Untapped Opportunity: Older Americans & the Arts, a collaboration among LaPlaca Cohen, Slover Linett and E.A. Michelson Philanthropy.
This groundbreaking report sheds light on older generations’ distinct preferences and behaviors to provide relevant insights for cultural engagement. The corrosive ageism that permeates our culture leads us to see older people as “other,” but it turns out that older and younger adults want the same things from life: we all have a deep desire to have fun, to connect meaningfully with others, to create and to learn.
This report provides new data on people over 55 years of age. Importantly, it reveals older adults’ priorities in engaging with the arts: opportunities to belong, to learn something new and to feel a sense of accomplishment. The findings in this report align with E.A. Michelson Philanthropy’s $20 million commitment to support creative aging programs in more than 100 organizations over the past decade.
It’s time to change the narrative around aging. The report joins a growing but overdue body of research investigating how engagement with arts and culture activities evolve over our lifetimes. It challenges arts and cultural organizations to recognize something that has been hiding in plain sight—an enormous opportunity to develop and deliver quality programs of relevance to the fastest-growing segment of our society.
You can view this important and fascinating report here.
Lifetime Arts Launches New Creative Aging Resource
Lifetime Arts recently launched a new online creative aging resource that provides a browsable directory of hundreds of hand-curated creative aging research, media, and case studies, along with profiles of experts and organizations in creative aging. The resource serves as a hub for the field and invites organizations serving older adults to share information about their own creative aging work. To learn more, visit creativeagingresource.org.
AAM Announces 2022 Trendswatch Report
The American Alliance of Museums recently published the 2022 Trendswatch Report, the Center for the Future of Museums’ annual forecast of key issues facing museums. This year’s report frames the case for museums as vital public infrastructure, by virtue of five pillars of community strength and resilience to which museums contribute:
- Education for our children
- Livable communities for our elders
- Mental health
- Emergency response in the face of disasters
- A human-centered culture of sustainability
We are proud to support this report and are especially thrilled to see the focus on "Livable Communities for our Elders" as one of the five pillars of community strength and resilience. We encourage you to read and share this important report with your network by clicking this link.
Aroha Philanthropies is now E.A. Michelson Philanthropy
Dear Friends,
After eight years, Aroha Philanthropies is changing its name to E.A. Michelson Philanthropy. While the Māori word “aroha” can convey ideas of selflessness, tolerance, kindness and compassion, which are values embedded in our founder’s philanthropic work, “aroha” is not a commonly known or used word in English. Going forward, we feel we need a name that better aligns with our identity as a small private foundation founded and led by Ellen A. Michelson.
The mission of E.A. Michelson Philanthropy will remain the same: Through funding and advocacy, we champion programs that break barriers, build community and spark creativity. We are proud to have made grants totaling more than $47 million since 2006, actively supporting nonprofit organizations across the United States through direct financial support, advocacy, partnerships, informal alliances, convenings, trainings and more – work that we will continue to do.
Our refreshed website includes a sneak preview of an exciting new creative aging initiative for art museums that will launch in spring 2022. Many of the images on our site showcase creative aging participants from our Vitality Arts grantees. To learn more about Vitality Arts programs, click here.
Best,
Ellen A. Michelson Teresa Bonner
Founder and President Executive Director
Creative Aging Featured in Stanford Social Innovation Review
Stanford Social Innovation Review recently highlighted the impact of creative aging in an article written by Aroha’s Executive Director, Teresa Bonner. The article shares how arts programming specially designed to help older adults access and benefit from quality lifelong learning can foster connection with others and restore a sense of purpose and joy to their lives. You can read the full article here.
American Alliance of Museums Releases Major Creative Aging Report
The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) recently released a landmark report on museums and creative aging and announced a national Summit on Museums and Creative Aging.
The report, commissioned by the American Alliance of Museums and written by Marjorie Schwarzer, is a call to action for museums to change the narrative about what it means to grow old in America. Opening with an overview of aging and ageism in our country, the report documents actions being taken to foster positive aging, profiles the work of museums providing creative aging programming, and shares lessons learned from Aroha’s Seeding Vitality Arts in Museums initiative. You can download a copy of the report here.
AAM will host a national Museum Summit on Creative Aging, a free, highly interactive virtual summit that will provide museum professionals with inspiration, tools and connections to help them serve the growing and underserved population of people who are “55 and better.” The half-day program includes keynote discussions, interactive workshops and panels that include Seeding Vitality Arts in Museums grantees. The summit takes place on July 29, 2021 from 1-6 pm ET. Learn more here.
It’s time for America’s museums—with their long commitment to education for youth and their essential relationships with older adults as visitors, volunteers, advocates, and trustees—to take a fresh approach to the experiences they offer people fifty-five and better.
Museums can and must venture beyond their own walls—physical and metaphorical—to develop strong, lasting community relationships, especially with those who have been overlooked as intelligent, contributing members of society: older adults.
We encourage you to share these two exciting developments in creative aging with your networks.
NASAA Awards $1.46 Million Dollars in Creative Aging
Aroha and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) are thrilled to announce the award of $1,457,000 in grant funding to 36 state and jurisdictional arts agencies. Part of NASAA's Leveraging State Investments in Creative Aging initiative, these grants will expand opportunities for creative aging across the nation, facilitating lifelong learning, joy, social engagement and improved wellbeing for older adults.
“Aroha Philanthropies is proud to partner with NASAA to support creative aging through our state and territorial arts agencies. This initiative marks an important step toward broadened awareness, adoption and funding of creative aging programs across the country,” said Ellen Michelson, founder and president.
To learn more about the 36 state arts agencies receiving funds, including every region of the country and five U.S. jurisdictions, click here. For information about activities taking place in each state, see NASAA's summary of grant awards or contact your state arts agency. For more information about NASAA's Leveraging State Investments in Creative Aging initiative, contact NASAA Arts Learning Projects Director at Susan.Oetgen@nasaa-arts.org.
Bridging Isolation Through Virtual Programming
A virtual movement program for older adults was recently highlighted in an American Alliance of Museums blog post. The Anchorage Museum, a Seeding Vitality Arts in Museums grantee located in Anchorage, AK, received an online learning pilot grant from Aroha to launch their creative aging programs in a live virtual setting. Museum educator Molissa Udevitz shares details about the transition to virtual programming: “The shared experience of moving together—even while apart—helped bridge the isolation so many may feel right now.” Learn more about the Anchorage Museum’s program “Vital & Creative: Expressive Movement for Ages 55+” here.
New Creative Aging Initiative in Partnership with NASAA
Aroha is thrilled to announce a new creative aging initiative in collaboration with the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA). With a $2 million grant award, NASAA is offering funding to help state arts agencies develop programs and partnerships that advance creative aging. Learn more about the exciting initiative here.