ARTS RESOURCE CENTER
Expanding arts opportunities for all Minnesotans as we age
Arts and creativity enrich our lives at every age, supporting health, connection, and purpose across the lifespan. Minnesota’s Multisector Blueprint for Aging encourages us to expand access to creative and cultural opportunities for all ages — including community arts programs and lifelong learning to intergenerational creative spaces or age-inclusive design.
We invite you to explore how communities across Minnesota are advancing the connection between arts and aging. Learn from Age-Friendly Minnesota partners and grantees who are using creative strategies to strengthen belonging, expression, and well-being as we age. Browse the free resources below and check back for new tools and examples as they are added.
ARTS PUBLICATIONS
Art is never just for the artistic, it is for everyone as its benefits are endless. Check out this piece in Minnesota Good Age, the premier resource for active Minnesotans age 55 and older.
Seeding Vitality Arts MN was a demonstration efforts of Aroha Philanthropies that ran from 2016-2020. Its goals were to 1) demonstrate the power and impact of creative aging programs to a national audience; 2) encourage arts and cultural organizations to develop participatory arts education programs for older adults; 3) encourage organizations that serve older adults to develop arts education programs; and 4) refine and disseminate effective program models. Aroha seeks to replace the ageist cultural narrative that views aging as decline and older adults as burdensome with one that recognizes older age as a season of learning, creativity and vitality.
World Health Organization: Health Evidence Network Synthesis Report 67 - What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being?
(146 pages)
This WHO scoping review synthesizes global research on how arts affects health and well-being across the lifespan. Drawing on over 3,000 studies spanning many countries and research findings, it notes arts participation can contribute to preventing poor health and promoting overall health and quality of life, as well as how arts activities support people living with health conditions and improves well-being in clinical or community contexts.
The review emphasizes the broad potential of arts activities to influence mental, social, and physical health through mechanisms such as social interaction, emotional engagement, cognitive stimulation, and behaviour change and supports the idea that arts engagement can be beneficial to health and well-being across the lifespan, including in contexts frequently relevant to older adults. Specifically, it provides evidence-based justification for arts initiatives that target aging-related outcomes like social connection, cognitive health, emotional well-being, and support for people living with conditions more common in older age (e.g., dementia).
“The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.”
- James Baldwin
CASE STUDY LONELINESS PROJECT
Below is a series of videos intended to be used to create an open dialogue about the effects of loneliness in the 55+ and LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities. Created by Theatre 55, each video comes with a discussion guide to be used with your group or organization. Facilitated discussions can be conducted by Theatre 55 staff for a fee.
As we age, we can all face unique challenges related to social isolation, mental health, and access to culturally competent care. This is particularly true for LGBTQIA and BIPOC Minnesotans, who experience compounded forms of discrimination and marginalization.
According to recent studies, BIPOC and LGBTQ older adults are twice as likely to live alone and four times less likely to have children to rely on for support compared to their white, heterosexual counterparts. For BIPOC and Transgender elders, these disparities can be even more pronounced, with higher rates of poverty, health disparities, and social exclusion.
Despite these challenges, there are few resources specifically tailored to address these intersectional needs - such as educational content that speaks directly to experiences or practical tools for combating loneliness and isolation. This Age-Friendly Minnesota grant helps to fill that gap by creating culturally sensitive and inclusive video segments that resonate with the lived experiences of BIPOC and Transgender LGBTQ older adults.
Theatre 55 was created in 2018 to fill a need in Minnesota: theatre performed by older people. It was formed with the purpose of developing lifelong learning through theatre performance and education with a vision to enrich the lives of elders as artists, audiences, and lifelong learners through theatre performance and education.
Learn more about Theatre 55 >>
“You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
- Maya Angelou
GET INSPIRED
The arts enriches lives at every stage, offering benefits to our health, well-being, and sense of community connections. Review these examples to discover a bit more about how the arts can inspire flourishing — for yourself and for the world around you.
Based on true stories and featuring performances from actors and caregivers, the production brings forward the unseen and undervalued labor of caregiving.
Thank You for Holding: The Caregiver Play Project
Age-Friendly Minnesota Grantee
For over a decade, Wonderlust Productions has used their creative design process to help complex communities share and connect through stories. As an Age-Friendly Minnesota grantee, they offered sold-out shows for their production of Thank You for Holding: The Caregiver Play Project. Based on the true stories of over 150 caregivers across the spectrum of experiences, audiences will experience a series of interlocking fictional vignettes that use puppetry, song, movement, and humor to entertain and provoke conversation and thought. The show asks the audience to consider: What does a community of care look like? How do we place a value on care as a society?
In the middle of the night, mysterious forces demand that Jonah accept a calling for caregiving that he would do anything to avoid. Carol battles with the inadequacies of social service support while she tries to ensure her brother gets the best care possible. Liyou cares for her aging mother and complex family while dealing with the demands and microaggressions of being a nurse, and Malcolm loses himself trying to support his mentally ill partner. Parents grapple with the joys and trials of caring for adult children with disabilities while day program staff try to build community among people of all abilities. Teenage children and middle-aged adults experience role reversals caring for sick, aging parents. Each character is alone and unique in their experiences, but united in the secret club that is being a caregiver.
Kairos Alive!: A Caregiving Story
(5 minutes)
Led by artist Teresa Cox, 15 older adults from Jones-Harrison took pride working together to develop new skills and create a collage mural of 15 individual squares.
Partners in Arts Participation Grant
Minnesota State Arts Board
Many nonprofit senior living communities, like Jones–Harrison in Minneapolis, prioritize identifying new and improved ways to prolong independence and enhance quality living, helping older adults age with dignity. Arts participation is an important component to healthy aging, contributing physical and mental health benefits, including fewer doctor visits, less medication use, better morale, and reduced rates of depression.
Knowing their work would be part of a larger composition, participants followed their own unique interpretations, linked together by complementary color, form, and materials. Positive social interaction developed between the teacher, staff, and fellow artists as they collaborated. Many were attempting collage for the first time, using magazine images that reflected their life experiences or favorite colors.
Residents overcame initial frustrations in learning and worked diligently for 12 weeks in two-hour classes to complete the piece in time to display it at a holiday party. Family members and staff were amazed by the pride and uplifting change in self-esteem by residents, which was a direct result of creating this artwork.
Lifetime Arts
(3 minutes)
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
- Pablo Picasso
BUILDING CONNECTIONS TO ART
Theater 55
Theatre 55's mission is to enrich the lives of elders as actors, audiences, and life-long learners. Their vision is to eliminate ageism and shift the paradigm on aging. Theatre 55 was created in 2018 to fill a need in Minnesota: theatre performed by older people. During the rehearsal process, novice performers have a hands-on opportunity to learn from professional actors along with a musical director, choreographer, and director, in a peer to peer methodology. Participants learn theatre skills of using their body, voice, imagination, breath control, movement, expression, and self-promotion through social media.
The Terrace
Minnesotans at every age enjoy having access to local concerts, dances, theatrical plays, comedy shows and other cultural performances. As an example of what is possible when a dozen different organizations and community support comes together, is another Age-Friendly Minnesota grantee project: The Terrace. Called "a beacon of community spirit and cultural enrichment," for transforming what was once an empty lot into Aitkin's newest and most accessible outdoor performance venue for community members of every age.
Giving Voice
Giving Voice is a Minnesota grown effort to create choral communities. They inspire and equip organizations to bring together people with dementia and their care partners to sing in choruses that foster joy, well-being, purpose, and community understanding. Giving Voice is leading a worldwide movement to bring dementia-friendly choruses to every community. All people living with dementia and their care partners have access to a vibrant choral community that adds connection, joy, and purpose to their lives.
Minnesota State Arts Board
In Minnesota, the arts define who we are. This is a place where people are transformed by high-quality arts experiences, and see the arts as essential to their communities. The arts are integrated into all aspects of our lives, connecting people of all ages and cultures, fostering understanding and respect. The Minnesota State Arts Board and the regional arts councils work together to ensure the arts are essential as we age.
Kairos Alive!
Kairos Alive! is a community-based arts and arts education organization that believes all are welcome in the community circle. Their intergenerational, intercultural performances – which they bring to schools, nursing homes, museums, parks, community centers and formal performance spaces – deliver a vision of what community can be: all ages, all backgrounds, all abilities — dancing together.
COMPAS
COMPAS provides art classes, events, and performances for older adults living in a variety of settings from active, independent 55+ communities, to assisted living and memory care programs in Minnesota.
Arts & Aging Classes
CommonBond Communities provides their residents age 55 and over with fee classes. Whether people are seasoned artists or just starting out, their classes offer a fantastic opportunity to explore your artistic side in a supportive community setting.
ART@HAND
The Northern Clay Center's ART@HAND program works to meet individuals where they are already engaging, including aging services communities across the Twin Cities, providing clay classes for individuals in many settings, including long-term care, assisted living, memory care, adult day centers, in-patient, out-patient, and community learning locations.
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Mia’s Vitality Arts programs are five-week art-making workshops for adults 55 and older. These workshops, led by professional teaching artists, encourage older adults to tap into their creativity and connect with the museum’s collection. Past programs have included workshops in drawing, painting, performance, jewelry making, assemblage, street art, mural painting, and more.
East Side Arts Council
Creative Connections for Seniors 55+ is East Side Arts Council’s program that brings older adults together to build community and discover creative voice through visual arts, storytelling, and poetry led by professional artists. Offered in partnership with trusted neighborhood sites, including cultural centers, senior housing, and community organizations, the program makes meaningful arts experiences accessible, social, and joyful.
Lifetime Arts
Lifetime Arts is a national nonprofit founded in 2008 to change the way we age. They champion creative aging by promoting arts education and opportunities for older adults, fostering meaningful connection, lifelong learning, and well-being through the arts.
Do you have questions about aging and the arts? Contact Age-Friendly MN now.
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Do you want to learn more about other Age-Friendly Minnesota resources? Visit our Resources Page today.
