Members-Only Guild Resource / Webinar

Groundwork: Creative Aging Real Talk Salon – Pathways to Creative Aging: Building Community Alliances through Artmaking

Published: 2022-02-25

About this Session
A three-part series of “Real Talk Salons” regarding Creative Aging practices in community arts education took place throughout the three weeks of the Groundwork: Healing within Community Arts Education (“Groundwork”) program in the fall of 2021. In response to the pandemic, the overarching themes of Groundwork sessions touched on healing. This Real Talk Salon, entitled “Pathways to Creative Aging: Building Community Alliances through Artmaking”, brought together the following community practitioners in conversation with one another:

Moderator:

  • Heather Ikemire (Deputy Director of Learning and Engagement, National Guild)

Speakers:

Description: Creative aging programs—when rooted in authentic collaboration—can be paths for older adults to feel fully seen and heard as vital contributors to our communities. In this Real Talk Session, representatives of creative aging programs at Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana and Ping Chong + Company talk openly about how they are using dance and storytelling to deepen connections among local elders. Join us to discuss how these kinds of transparent and human-centered approaches to creative aging can build alliances among your older adult students, your staff and teaching artists, and your community partners and spark broader advocacy.

This session took part the first week of the program on October 26, 2021, with American Sign Language interpretation provided by Pro Bono ASL.

 

About the Groundwork Program
Groundwork was a 3-week virtual gathering that centered healing in the context of community arts education, as a pathway towards personal, interpersonal, and systemic change, informed by the idea that we must get right with ourselves before we can work with each other to reimagine and create a more just future. To that end, Groundwork’s themes unfolded each week as: Healing for Self (Week 1), Healing for Collective (Week 2), and Healing for Movement Building (Week 3).

For more information about the gathering, please visit the program details, here.

 

This program was made possible through generous support from Aroha PhilanthropiesThe Music Man Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.