Who We Are
Lifetime Arts catalyzes and connects the people, funding, practical strategies, and bold ideas necessary to embrace all older adults as creative and social learners.
We do this by:
Providing training, consulting, and information resources to organizations, agencies, and
teaching artists who want to develop programming, undo ageism, and grow their
leadership
Developing new + existing national, state, and local cross-sector partnerships
Seeding creative aging programs
Documenting + communicating impact to scale the work
Convening creative aging leaders across sectors
Current Major Initiatives
State and Regional
Advancing Creative Aging Through State Library Leadership (2023-2025)
Through the Advancing Creative Aging Through State Library Leadership Initiative, Lifetime Arts will train and coach up to 250 librarians and library programmers in creative aging program planning, design, marketing, implementation, and documentation at 132 public and county library systems in Missouri and Wyoming. A total of 100 in-person and remote creative aging programs will serve up to 2,000 older adults in Wyoming and Missouri public libraries and build the case for long-term sustainability. This three-year initiative is made possible through a partnership between Califa Group, Wyoming State Library, Missouri State Library, and Lifetime Arts. The project is generously supported by a $646,000 Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
and builds on IMLS’s longtime support of creative aging in libraries.
Advancing Creative Aging in Western States Initiative (2023-2024)
The Advancing Creative Aging in Westerns States Initiative, launched in 2023, is designed to deepen and sustain collaboration among state agency partners to advance creative aging in the Western region. Lifetime Arts is providing consulting to state teams in partnership development, the development and implementation of creative aging programming, and documenting and communicating impact to increase impact and leverage investment. Currently the Initiative includes partnership teams in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming, and Utah. These teams include leaders from state arts agencies, state libraries, and state veterans services, and will expand to include aging services and health and human services. Together they will launch 25 new creative aging programs serving a total of 500 older adults, host 5 state-level convenings focused on creative aging, and discuss the formation of a Western States
Creative Aging Leadership Council.
States Leading Creative Aging – National Assembly of State Art Agencies (NASAA) (2023-2024)
Building on the successes and lessons learned from the Leveraging State Investments in Creative Aging Initiative (2021-2022), the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) awarded nine state arts agencies funds to continue to deepen and expand their creative aging efforts through their States Leading Creative Aging initiative. Of the nine agencies, seven have engaged Lifetime Arts to provide in-depth consulting and/or training services to support their efforts. We are currently working closely with the following state arts agencies through this initiative: Delaware Division of the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Nebraska Arts Council, Ohio Arts Council, Tennessee Arts Commission, Vermont Arts Council, and Wyoming Arts Council. With this funding and technical assistance, each state will build on existing creative aging programs to gain significant ground in meeting the needs of older adults in underserved communities throughout their state.
Advancing Creative Aging in Connecticut Libraries (2023)
Lifetime Arts, the Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA), and the Connecticut State Library are partnering to pilot and strengthen arts education programming for older adults in 10 Connecticut (CT) public libraries, as well as build and deepen opportunities and relationships with established and emerging COA teaching artists and CT libraries. Lifetime Arts is providing training as well as access to new online resources, including Creative Aging Foundations On Demand, for all public libraries in the state and with the lead partners, will oversee the implementation, documentation, and dissemination Lifetime Arts of 10 creative aging programs in CT libraries. Acknowledging the diversity, complexity, and changing needs and interests of older adults, this opportunity seeks to position libraries and Connecticut as an age-friendly state through this arts-centered experience.
News & Updates
Access Our Free Digital Resources
Creative Aging Foundations On Demand
Explore 6 learning modules of multimedia content in whatever order you choose, and walk away with a roadmap for your team, organization, and community. Lifetime Arts produced nearly 80 videos that detail the creative aging arts education learning model, demonstrate creative aging classes, and feature interviews, case discussions, and programming examples with experts in the field. All of this content is available in video, audio, and text formats.
The Creative Aging Resource Website
Lifetime Arts’ The Creative Aging Resource website is a free info hub populated with hand-curated resources covering creative aging research, media coverage, case studies, and organizational profiles. We launched this site for the benefit of community educators, programmers, teaching artists, decision-makers, and funders entering or working in the field. This project is made possible through generous and continuous support from the E.A. Michelson Foundation and The New York State Council on the Arts, and The Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.
By subscribing to The Creative Aging Resource Journal on Substack, you’ll receive enlightening research and media in the rapidly expanding field of creative aging.
Our Past Work
Catalyzing Creative Aging (2017-2021) – A multi-year initiative led in partnership by the National Guild for Community Arts Education and Lifetime Arts. Two years after the start of this initiative, a national survey of Guild members showed that there was already an 11% increase in Guild member organizations offering creative aging and 37% of those programs were created since the start of the initiative. The report also revealed that 23% of Guild member organizations not yet offering programs planned to start in the next 12 months and that serving older adults was identified as a priority in the strategic plans of 51% of organizations.
Seeding Vitality Arts in Museums (2018-2021) – A partnership between the American Alliance of Museums, Lifetime Arts, and E.A. Michelson Philanthropy (formerly Aroha Philanthropies). This Initiative began with a cohort of twenty museums receiving funds and training from Lifetime Arts to create and pilot sequential participatory onsite (and, during COVID, online) artmaking programs for older adults. This cohort work led to the publication of the report, Museums and Creative Aging: A Healthful Partnership and a national convening. The report calls on museums of all kinds to develop creative aging programs and combat ageism as “a strategic and ethical imperative.”
Sample Program Evaluations
- Jennie Kaufman and Ruth Finkelstein (Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging/Hunter College): Creative Aging in NYC – Analysis of the New York City Creative Aging Initiative, a two-year collaboration among Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging, Lifetime Arts, and LiveOn NY, to strengthen and advance the field of creative aging in the city. Funded by NY Community Trust.
- Utah Arts & Museums Creative Aging Impact Report – As part of their participation in “Leveraging State Investments in Creative Aging,” Utah contracted Lifetime Arts to provide 4 training sessions on “Creative Aging Foundations” for cultural organizations, teaching artists, and organizations that serve older adults. A total of 99 people across Utah were trained.
- Touchstone Center for Collaborative Inquiry: Creative Aging in America’s Libraries. This was a two-year evaluation report commissioned by Lifetime Arts
Relevant Research Studies
- Research on Creative Aging Arts Education Model
- Dr. Gene Cohen’s longitudinal research (outlined below) demonstrated that older adults who participate in sequential, skills-based arts education programs, that intentionally integrate social engagement, take less medication, experience less depression, have reduced risk factors for disease and disability, and overall become more engaged and active in their lives. Known now as creative aging, this low-cost, evidence-based model advances crucial factors for older adult health and wellness.
- National Endowment for the Arts and The George Washington University: The Creativity and Aging Study
- Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., et al. (The Gerontological Society of America): The Impact of Professionally Conducted Cultural Programs on the Physical Health, Mental Health, and Social Functioning of Older Adults
- Dr. Gene Cohen’s longitudinal research (outlined below) demonstrated that older adults who participate in sequential, skills-based arts education programs, that intentionally integrate social engagement, take less medication, experience less depression, have reduced risk factors for disease and disability, and overall become more engaged and active in their lives. Known now as creative aging, this low-cost, evidence-based model advances crucial factors for older adult health and wellness.
- Further Research on Benefits of Participatory Arts Engagement for Older Adults
- National Endowment for the Arts: Staying Engaged: Health Patterns of Older Adults who Participate in the Arts
- Kristin M. Story, et al.: Active and Receptive Arts Participation and their Association with Mortality among Adults in the United States: A Longitudinal Cohort Study
- Melinda Rena, et al.: Receptive and Participatory Arts Engagement and Healthy Aging: Longitudinal Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study
- Nina Trivedy Rogers, Ph.D., and Daisy Fancourt, Ph.D. (NIH National Library of Medicine): Cultural Engagement Is a Risk-Reducing Factor for Frailty Incidence and Progression
Noteworthy Reports
- Social Prescribing for the Arts: Golden, T.L, et al: Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for US Communities
- With evidence on the powerful health benefits of arts participation from more than 3,000 studies worldwide, many are now referring to participatory arts learning as a vital social determinant of health or as some call it, a non-medical driver of health (Fancourt, Daisy & Finn, Saoirse. 2019). This research also has sparked adoption of arts on prescription (or social prescribing for the arts), a robust practice internationally that is being piloted in several U.S communities.(Golden, T.L., et al. 2023).
- Market Research Study: LaPlaca Cohen, Culture Track: Untapped Opportunity: Older Americans & The Arts
