EngAGE Blog

A Second Life Engaged

by Helene Weinberg
EngAGE Program Director
Long Beach Senior Arts Colony
Pacific Avenue Arts Colony, San Pedro

Engaging in creativity lands me in a happy place – tweaking a new song, writing a blog, opening an art show, producing a video. Visual, literary, musical, and highly impractical, these erratic shards of sparks hit me hard, most often in my car on my way to work.

I work in Non-Profit Land, which casts a dreamy, disjointed, down-home kind of vibe that resonates with my artist’s soul and reluctant administrative prowess. I’ve always considered myself a right-brained being, so doing left-brained things doesn’t always feel right. I don’t excel at Excel. I prefer Word – well, words.

How did this entertainer from Cleveland land in Non-Profit Land in La-La Land? After college I dreamed of moving to LA to be a writer/actor/comic. I never thought when I finally got here, a few decades later, that I would find my happy place as a Program Director for EngAGE.

EngAGE, the art of active aging, gives older adults a second life as artists. In over 30 apartment communities across southern California, EngAGE has built an astounding reputation in enhancing the lives of older adults by bringing arts, wellness, and lifelong learning programs to residents at no cost to them.

In the past few years, EngAGE has extended its reach to include multi-generational arts colonies, developing creative programming to help emerging and professional artists live, work and thrive within an artsy, affordable housing community. We now create community for all ages.

I enjoy playing Fairy Godmother to professional and emerging artists of all ages, helping make their dreams come to fruition. I am honing my left-brain skills as a mediator, educator, administrator, arbitrator, negotiator, facilitator, expeditor, and aviator. As a co-pilot, witnessing a spirit soaring to new heights is by far the best perk of this work. Creativity is joy and passion unleashed. It’s contagious and somewhat addictive. I hope to never recover from it.

I still get to perform, produce, and write, but I’ve learned that’s not all there is. To be a creative conduit and helping other artists engage and ignite their own shards of sparks is the coolest thing I’ve known in my own second life.

Helene Weinberg, Program Director (LBSAC/PacArts) – An award-winning entertainer and educator, Helene starred in the touring production of the long-running hit, Forbidden Broadway, and performs worldwide for corporate, social, and special events. She created her boutique business theater/special events company, Out To Lunch Events, in 1994, and debuted her first musical revue to capacity crowds in Cleveland’s Playhouse Square. Helene has worked with funny man Drew Carey; with the legendary improv company, The Second City; and as a musical cabaret artist, actor, radio host, coach and writer.