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This chapter focuses on the potential for participatory arts to support a good life in older age. It is motivated by the author’s personal experience of working with older people and a number of other factors including: demographic predications of an unprecedented growth of the older population in developed and developing countries over the next five decades; the associated potential for a rise in age-related ill-health and poorer quality of life; a shift in the balance of older and younger people, which may jeopardize the strength of care industries’ workforces and resources to care for ill older people; and the need, therefore, to identify mechanisms to keep people well as they age. The chapter reports on national strategies that aim to support a good life through participatory arts in ageing populations and provides four case studies of initiatives and research.

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