Episode 28, ACT 1: Ed & Maura - Art vs. Ageism: Rewiring Perceptions

We hope you’re staying safe and healthy in this bizarre time of self-isolation. We also know the power of engagement through the arts in times of uncertainty, and so we’re reaching out to you (virtually) with a brand new episode of Teaching Artistry with Courtney J. Boddie! Our newest episode, Episode 28, “Art vs. Ageism: Rewiring Perceptions,” features a discussion with Maura O'Malley and Ed Friedman of Lifetime Arts. In this conversation, Courtney and her guests discuss the mission of Lifetime Arts, a New Rochelle-based entity that aims to “connect the people, funding, ideas and strategies necessary to increase the number and quality of professional arts programs for older adults." The biggest challenge to the arts education field, we learn, is the exclusion of the folks in our society who have the most life experience from which to draw and, through that experience, create art! In this enlightening conversation, Courtney, Maura and Ed discuss topics like: changing the narrative around aging from a negative to a positive, strategies to combat ageism and the idea of “creative aging.” They also ask questions like: what does it mean to develop meaning strategies to engage older adults in the arts? What does it look like to tackle ageism in a society that gears programming to younger generations?