For individuals living with Alzheimer’s and their care partners, it can be challenging to find inclusive, understanding environments that support joy, connection, and learning. This video highlights Reflections, a program offered through a partnership between the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and the Duke Family Support Program. Together, they create affirming, judgment-free spaces where participants can explore art, build community, and feel truly seen. To illustrate the program’s impact, the video follows two participant-caregiver pairs as they engage with the program, offering a glimpse into its emotional impact and the meaningful relationships that grow from shared creative experiences.
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Drawing Connection: Art Class Unites Formerly Unhoused Men with Case Managers
As part of the Vitality Arts Project for Art Museums Initiative, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) and Catholic Charities Twin Cities Higher Ground campus collaborated on a six-week drawing program this summer for older adult residents. Higher Ground serves men who have struggled with homelessness or housing instability. The residents’ case managers also were participants during this course, which was taught by Lynda Monick-Isenberg, Lifetime Arts Trainer. This article was published by MPR News.
Social Prescribing for the Arts: A Promising Framework for Arts & Health Collaboration in the U.S. & Beyond
In this issue, we explore the emerging research and practices of social prescribing for the arts (SPA) and discuss the future of SPA efforts as a vital component of arts and health services in the U.S., especially for older adults. This issue starts framing answers to key questions related to the challenges and opportunities this practice surfaces in healthcare and creative aging. Featured in this issue is a recorded conversation between three leading experts on SPA in the U.S.: Tasha Golden, S. Sudha, and Käthe Swaback.
*This email is an abridged version of our our full issue, which contains in-depth analysis and numerous resources on social prescribing. You can read the full issue here.
Creative Aging Programs Foster Friendships & Creative Liberty for LGBTQIA+ Community in Utah
From the Article: Learn more about two innovative programs implemented via a partnership between the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and Utah Pride Center and explore more creative aging programs and resources that support the needs and interests of the LGBTQIA+ community.
In-person, Virtual, Onsite, Offsite, and Blended: Making Responsive Programs Happen for Older Adults
From Article:
One of the many lessons we learned from the pandemic is that remote/virtual programming is a viable (and likely ongoing) method for program delivery. Whether offered onsite or remotely, all successful creative aging programs have something in common: they are responsive to the communities they serve.
By listening and learning, teaching artists and arts organization staff across the country are implementing inclusive programs where all older adults can build lasting friendships and create honest and meaningful art.
ROM Launches New Wellness Program Providing Free Visits to the Museum
From the Press Release:
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is pleased to announce a new health and wellness initiative that will enable thousands of people from across the province to visit the Museum at no cost, with a referral from associated ROMCAN healthcare, community, or social service professionals. The Museum’s year-long social prescription pilot program, a collaborative effort with the partners of the ROM’s Community Access Network (ROMCAN), provides an opportunity for people accessing health or social services to benefit from the uplifting experience of engaging with art and culture.
Creative Aging Programming for Older LGBTQIA+ Adults: Opportunities for Cultural Institutions
In this issue of The Creative Aging Resource from Lifetime Arts, Diantha Dow Schull (Curator for Lifetime Arts), interviews two innovative programmers; Amy DelPo, Older Adult Specialist at the Denver Public Library and Harrison Orr, Director of Museum Education at Tucson’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Both programs were for members of the LGBTQIA+ communities. They were also intergenerational and offered online, providing instructive models for other cultural institutions.
Participatory Arts Programming for Older Adults in Museums: Trends in Europe, the UK, and Canada
In this issue of The Creative Aging Resource by Lifetime Arts, Diantha Dow Schull (Curator for Lifetime Arts) shares a curated collection of programs that align with the tenets of the creative aging arts education model and are designed to become embedded in cultural institutions.
Queering Community Through Intergenerational Arts Experiences in the Museum.
“Stay Gold” is an intergenerational arts program for LGBTQIA+ people, that the Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson has offered for several years. In this article the three individuals who contributed to the design and implementation of the program describe their effort to assess the program from the perspective of the participants.
Through in-depth interviews they tried to learn how such programs build museums’ capacities to work with “marginalized audiences” and how participants can build cross-age relationships through art-making experiences.
The article is important as a discussion of a successful LGBTQIA+ creative aging program that: (1) connects generations while building community, and (2) that has been institutionalized. It is also an important example of an LGBTQIA+ program assessment that can help MOCA Tucson and other museums refine their programs for a growing constituency.
Stay Gold: An Intergenerational LGBTQIA+ Arts Program
This chapter in a museum education reference work is an in-depth study of “Stay Gold: An Intergenerational LGBTQIA+ Arts Program” offered in 2020-2021 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tucson AZ (MOCA Tucson).
The three authors were all involved in key ways in designing and implementing “Stay Gold.” The study is unusual for its detailed history and discussion of the rationale for the program, how it was developed collaboratively with participants, how it was implemented and the effect it has had on individual participants and the overall gay community.
Few cultural institutions have or take the time to document and analyze specific initiatives in a similar way. The study is also unusual as an effort by museum staff and consultants to communicate with peers in other institutions regarding the development of a key program. The Chapter concludes with suggestions on how other types of cultural institutions might develop similar programs.