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Public Programming
Celebrating Personal Histories: The Neon Museum’s creative aging performance workshops
In 2018, twenty organizations enrolled in a special museum cohort of Aroha Philanthropies’ Seeding Vitality Arts program. With funding from Aroha, and training provided by Lifetime Arts, …
Is History Haunted?: Three museums explain their supernatural programs
Around October, the weather gets cold, the days get shorter, and the spine begins to tingle. People start looking for eerie activities to scratch the itch, whether haunted houses, horror …
Wellbeing and wellness – how theme parks, museums and aquariums are offering more health services than ever
Blooloop explores the growing trend of wellness programs at museums and related institutions. From pop-up cafes to art therapy to fitness classes, they share examples of innovative programs …
Mystic Chords of Memory: Writing workshops as museum creative aging programs
Nearly a career ago, I visited a mentor and friend at the historical society he directed on a Saturday afternoon. As we sat in his office chatting, I heard a phone ring in the society’s …
Getting Through to Creative Agers
As we develop creative aging programs for museums, it behooves us to think about how to make our efforts as engaging for the audience as possible. Doing this successfully requires a …
The Unexpected Joys of Launching a Creative Aging Program
In 2018, 20 organizations enrolled in a special museum cohort of Aroha Philanthropies’ Seeding Vitality Arts program. With funding from Aroha, and training provided by Lifetime Arts, these …
Creating Vibrant Programs for Older Adults
It is a particular pleasure to hear from kindred spirits in creative aging who have been keeping up with our Ad Summa blogs. One such person is the indefatigable Delano Wood from DOROT in …
Confronting a Painful History: How a museum partnered with its Native community to educate the public about an offensive place name
The Black Rock Historical Society (BRHS) is a volunteer organization on the west side of Buffalo, NY, formed in 2013 around the two-hundredth anniversary of the War of 1812 and chartered …
The Memory Café: Creating a museum program for people with dementia
At Conner Prairie—a Smithsonian Affiliate living history museum in Fishers, Indiana—we recently debuted a program for people with Dementia and Alzheimer’s. In partnership with the Central …
An After-School Program Gives Refugee Children a Creative Boost
One of the many things that make Charlottesville, Virginia special is that it serves as a destination city for the International Rescue Committee, which helps refugees settle into their new …
More Evidence for the Power of Creative Aging
One of the most fruitful areas of the creative aging movement is the one that explores the arts and aging. The evidence for the positive effects of arts on wellbeing is mounting rapidly …
An Intergenerational “School of Drag” Connects LGBTQIA+ Youth and Elders
Last year, 20 organizations enrolled in a special museum cohort of Aroha Philanthropies’ Seeding Vitality Arts program. With funding from Aroha, and training provided by Lifetime …