The Morris Arts Creative Aging Program was launched in 2023 with the goal of providing transformative experiences in the arts for our senior community. This arts engagement program was made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Each year Morris Arts partners with two community organizations to provide 16 free weekly sessions with visiting artists in a variety of disciplines.
This year we partnered with Gateway Community Center in Boonton and Second Inning Senior Center in Whippany.
Led by author and poet, Paul Rabinowitz, these workshops helped participating seniors improve their writing and storytelling abilities. During the sessions, participants were also exposed to different art forms as inspiration for their own work.
Creative Aging at Second Inning
Second Inning Senior Center primarily serves the Indian community of Parsippany, many of whom grew up in India. As such, Paul brought in Indian artists to perform for the group to spark memories from their past.
The group couldn’t take their eyes off Indian dancer, Parul Shah, who performed in traditional dress alongside a drummer. Many participants even took out their phones to take videos of the performance. Later during the residency program, teaching artist Micaela Camacho Tenreiro, led the group through a series of dance movements they could do themselves.
In addition to dance, participants were also inspired by music. They saw an incredibly talented sitar and tabula player perform during another session. The duo played high-spirted pieces that had nearly everyone in the room tapping a foot or swaying to the beat.
Finally, Indian poet, Nidhi Thakur, also visited Second Inning during the program and read aloud her beautiful work for the group.
Each participant received a notebook and was encouraged to write down their thoughts and memories during performances. The residency program was a resounding success with over 80 seniors participating.
Creative Aging at Gateway Community Center
At Gateway Community Center, the Creative Aging program was focused on writing. Each session, Paul led participants through different writing exercises and activities to help them improve their skills and creativity.
Participants worked on a variety of writing pieces including memoirs, poems, and short stories. They frequently shared their work with the group and received constructive feedback from Paul.
Much like the residency at Second Inning, the seniors used art to evoke ideas for their writing. Paul shared photographs and excerpts from other written works with the group for inspiration. Additionally, an artist created collages of each participant’s story to provide a unique, visual perspective on their work.
Around 12 seniors participated in this program, some of whom had also participated in last year’s Creative Aging program. The small group setting made participants comfortable sharing their work and allowed them to fine-tune their skills.
Art for All Ages
Art experiences can improve health and well-being in people of all ages. Music can improve cognitive function in people with dementia while dance can ease symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. We believe it’s vital to bring these experiences to senior citizens who are often overlooked when it comes to arts programming. We look forward to offering similar residencies in the future as we continue expanding our Arts in Health initiative.
Interested in participating in programs like these? Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media to get the latest Morris Arts news!
These programs were made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
