National Center for Creative Aging Announces Launch of the Directory of Creative Aging Programs in America

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With 10,000 boomers turning 65 every day, organizations across the country have developed engaging arts opportunities designed for older adults. From a senior artist colony in Burbank, CA with a built-in performance theater to a visual arts program for people with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers at the world-class Museum of Modern Art in New York City, programs from across the country are featured on a free online tool developed by the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA).

NCCA has launched the first of its kind Directory of Creative Aging Programs in America funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, MetLife Foundation, and The Michelson Foundation. The Directory features arts programs serving older people and includes intergenerational activities in urban, suburban, and rural communities in a variety of settings such as community centers, senior centers, assisted living, adult day care, arts institutions, and libraries. It is also searchable by an assortment of options such as: location, arts discipline, program setting, and adaptive design, with the goal of enabling older adults to find programs, encouraging arts and aging organizations to find partners, and helping teaching artists to find employment with organizations committed to creative aging in their communities.

"We are excited to launch this Directory, which will serve as a resource to people who may have never been introduced to the concept of creative aging before," said Gay Hanna, PhD, MFA, Executive Director of NCCA. "Not only does this Directory feature innovative programs serving older Americans, but we hope it will also inspire healthcare, community, educational, and arts organizations to begin programs of their own."

"The National Endowment for the Arts is thrilled to support this directory of creative aging programs in the United States," said Beth Bienvenu, Accessibility Director at the National Endowment for the Arts. "It builds on the work of the NEA's Interagency Task Force on the Arts and Human Development to promote research in the field of creativity and aging, and we hope that this directory will help encourage more research on the benefits of engagement in high quality, professionally-led arts programming for older adults."

To find an arts program in your community, visit www.creativeaging.org/programs-people/cad. For more information about how to submit a program for inclusion, call (202) 895-9456 or email [email protected].

The National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA) was founded in 2001 and is dedicated to fostering an understanding of the vital relationship between creative expression and healthy aging and to developing programs that build on this understanding.  Based in Washington, DC, NCCA is a nonprofit with 2,500 members and is affiliated with The George Washington University. www.creativeaging.org

SOURCE National Center for Creative Aging