News
Ageism in the News
The topic of ageism has been receiving increased attention in national media outlets, most recently as it relates to COVID19. Linked below is a collection of articles on a range of topics relating to older adults, including reporting on the pandemic, ageism, the arts, psychology and neuroscience. We encourage you to check out these fascinating stories:
- We Need an Intergenerational Response to the Pandemic
- Why It’s Good to be Old, Even in a Pandemic
- Coronavirus Shows How Ageism is Harmful to Health of Older Adults
- Ageism is Making the Pandemic Worse
- Ageism Strikes Hard In The Age Of Covid-19
- Let’s Wage a War on Loneliness
- Dancing Past 60: ‘I Actually Forget That I Am Aging’
- You’re Only as Old as You Feel
- Older People Are Ignored and Distorted in Ageist Marketing, Report Finds
- Is Ageism Getting Old?
- Everyone Knows Memory Fails as You Age. But Everyone Is Wrong.
- 'New Artists' Don't Have to be Young
Online Creative Aging Training with Lifetime Arts
Lifetime Arts is offering a free, one-hour online mini-course aimed at anyone interested in learning about creative aging or adapting programs to an online format. This self-guided training includes an overview of the field, teaching art to older adults, artmaking and social engagement demonstrations, an intro to the program model, seeding creative aging in an organization, and case studies. Visit lifetimearts.org/course/creative-aging-101 to learn more.
Online Learning Grant Opportunity for SVA in Museums Cohort
Aroha recently invited the Seeding Vitality Arts in Museums grantees to apply for support to develop and pilot high quality, live, online, interactive creative aging programs. Understanding the challenges that museums are facing, this pilot program is designed to help Aroha’s current museum grantees and their Vitality Arts students stay engaged and connected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are pleased to award the first grant to the Louisiana State Museum. They will be offering “Resilience in Writing: Online Poetry Courses for Older Adults” in the New Orleans area beginning in June 2020.
Graduation Speech
Next Avenue debuted the second episode of “Welcome Graduates,” a video series offering a different and inspiring take on the milestone of graduation from work to life. The video features director and playwright Rick Shiomi, a member of the “unretired, retirees group.”
“Unretirement for me means new artistic adventures that help me fulfill long-held dreams and discover new aspects of myself.” - Rick Shiomi
Craft Contemporary Fiber Arts Classes
A Craft Contemporary student displays their embroidery on a piece of dyed cyanotype fabric. Photo Credit: Craft Contemporary
Aroha is proud to support the creative aging programs at Craft Contemporary, a Seeding Vitality Arts in Museums grantee in Los Angeles, California. This fall, older adult students in the museum's fiber class have been working with teaching artist Mimi Haddon to create sculptural works made from various textiles and fabrics, experimenting with Sashiko and Boro embroidery techniques.
For more information, visit cafam.org.
Visual Memoir Class at Pillsbury House + Theatre
Students peruse magazines for visual inspiration. (From left to right) Judy Baldwin, Beverly J. Davis and Kyoko Katayama. Photo Credit: Elle Moulin
Students in the Visual Memoir class at Pillsbury House + Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota were recently featured in a Next Avenue blog post as part of their Vitality Arts Special Report. A Seeding Vitality Arts Minnesota cohort organization, Pillsbury House + Theatre’s class is part of the Centerstage creative writing program for adults age 55 and older.
“The task I have is to teach students how they can translate their beautiful writing into other media,” says teaching artist Masanari Kawahara. This isn’t a traditional art class — they all are exploring the medium they prefer to visually tell their stories.”
NASAA Creative Aging Survey Highlights
The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) just published highlights of a survey designed to gauge the interest in and need for creative aging programs among state and jurisdictional arts agencies (SAAs). NASAA’s survey yielded a 98% response rate, and 78% of respondents rated the need for creative aging programs as “very high” or “high” in their states. The survey findings are part of NASAA’s effort to explore how SAAs can “foster an abundance of creative aging opportunities” across the country and will inform future strategies. Stay tuned for more information.
Graduation Speech from Next Avenue
Next Avenue recently debuted the first episode of “Welcome Graduates,” a video series offering a different and inspiring take on the milestone of graduation from work to life. The video features a rousing congratulatory speech to those who are “graduating” to retirement, given by Twin Cities poet, teacher and dancer Mary Moore Easter.
“You will never be too old to create, and your growing ability will be the thing that reveals it to you.” – Mary Moore Easter
National Guild 2019-2020 Creative Aging Cohort Announcement
The National Guild for Community Arts Education, Lifetime Arts and Aroha Philanthropies have announced the 2019-2020 cohort for Catalyzing Creative Aging, a multi-phase initiative designed to support the establishment of arts education programs for older adults that increase social engagement and mastery of one or more art forms. Twenty nonprofit arts organizations will receive training and coaching to start new, high-quality, effective programs for older adults.
Click here to view the list of selected arts organizations.
Graffiti Class Offered at the Minneapolis Institute of Art
Students participate in a graffiti class held by the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Photo Credit: Peyton Scott Russell
Aroha is proud to support creative aging programs at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) as part of the Seeding Vitality Arts Minnesota initiative. This fall, Mia welcomed 12 participants ages 65 years and over to engage in graffiti and street art-making techniques. Participants examined the personal, political and social expressions that are historically part of this modern art form, creating art that expressed their sense of self and identity. Each participant created an individual work and contributed to a collaborative group mural that broke barriers and stereotypes of who "graffiti artists" can be.
Visit artsmia.org to learn more.