At Coventry Court Senior Apartments in Tustin, CA, Art Instructor Nicole Galardo and Regional Program Director Meloney Morse, with support from Greystar Management, hosted their first “Paint and Sip” with 27 residents in attendance. The two hour class mixed colors, jokes, and chit chat. Wine, peanuts, and paint were flying !
~ Nancy Goodhart, C.A.O.
Thanks to Nadine Ono for this excellent article about ACE 121, our recently opened, EngAGE community in Glendale, CA:
Affordable housing complex gives artists a refuge from SoCal housing crisis
“ACE 121 includes amenities designed specifically for artists including an art gallery, art studios, a kiln, classroom space with a computer lab and music rooms. EngAGE, a non-profit dedicated to providing wellness, learning and creativity to senior affordable housing communities, has partnered with Meta Housing Corporation to provide art programming at Ace 121, including classes, exhibitions and performances. . . . ‘What we’re here to do is to make this place great for the people who live here,’ said Tim Carpenter, founder and executive director of EngAGE. . . . Although many of EngAGE’s projects are senior-based, Ace 121’s residents are working artists of all ages.”
See a list of all of our EngAGE communities here.
Click image for more information about the 673 documented Sister Marches.
On January 21st, approximately 50 seniors at Seacrest Village Retirement Center marched around their retirement home, the same day hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across the country in support of women’s rights. Alice Morawetz, the 88-year-old organizer, said that the retirement home administration initially thought the march might be divisive, but she wanted to avoid any political confrontation. “It is not in the style of an expression of protest,” she says, calling their walk “positive, supportive and unifying.”
Read more and see a video about the Encinitas Seniors here.
Also see NextAvenue’s article: Boomer Women on Their March on Washington
The residents of La Coruña Senior Apartments in Van Nuys, CA, have been coming to the Holiday Singalong Party for 3 years. Louahn Lowe on piano and Theo Stevens on sax provide the entertainment of mixed secular and non-secular songs.
Programs Assistant Brian Cole playing with lights. Looking like an elf.
Regional Program Director Elizabeth Sampson makes Holiday Singalong Books so that everyone can join in the lyrics and sing out with commitment.
She also makes a special hot cider (secret ingredients are Apple Juice, Honey, Cloves, Cinnamon Sticks, sliced/crushed Oranges and a dash of Holiday Spirit), platters of cookies, festive napkins and decorations, and for the next hour, all are immersed in a musical interlude both joyous and tender. Even caregivers who say they are just there to support their resident, eventually ask for a songbook and join in the musicale. It has become tradition at all of Elizabeth’s properties, and an evening everyone looks forward to all year.
~ Elizabeth Sampson, Regional Program Director
Please join us for “The Artfully Aging Radio Hour” project, two live shows that will be performed and recorded for radio broadcast and podcast at 7:00 p.m. on January 23 and 24, at Pillsbury House Theatre in Minneapolis.
“The Artfully Aging Radio Hour” is a collaboration between CommonBond Communities and EngAGE.MN, in association with Pillsbury House Theatre, Hippocrates Café, and Aroha Philanthropies. Each show in the “Artfully Aging Radio Hour” project will feature inspiring older artists and performers who will share their valuable lifelong experiences as creators of art, music, dance, and theater.
“The Artfully Aging Radio Hour” is the culminating event of EngAGE.MN’s “The Power of Storytelling” class at CommonBond’s Riverview Senior Housing Community. The class, which explores the power of personal storytelling, is taught by T. Mychael Rambo, a regional Emmy award-winning actor, vocalist, arts educator, and community organizer.
RSVP: Reply to commonbond.rsvp@commonbond.org with preferred date and number of guests attending. Performances are free, but reservations are required.
Residents at Cantabria/Asturias in Panorama City, CA, got very excited about the WSH Holiday Card Contest (WSH Management manages a number of EngAGE communities). In past years, Fred had won, so the other art students were a little intimidated, but Art Instructor Polet Zargarian encouraged everyone to participate and compete, and lo and behold, Martha H. won!
Here is Martha proudly holding up an earlier example of her artwork at the Halloween party this year. She kept telling Elizabeth Sampson that she had never done art before studying with Polet a year ago. Wow! She has improved by leaps and bounds in just one year!
And here is Martha’s winning card!
Polet didn’t want the other art students to feel left out, so she made copies of their beautiful work from throughout the year and created cards that she gave to them at a small Holiday Tea Party she threw.
Martha serving snacks at the Holiday Tea Party for all the art students to celebrate her win.
Here is the holiday tree at Metro Hollywood decorated with her cards!
~ Ellizabeth Sampson, Regional Program Director
Tune in to Experience Talks, our weekly “Radio Magazine for the Experienced Listener,” on Sundays at 5:00 PM PT on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara, 99.5 China Lake, 93.7 N. San Diego, streaming live online, and now syndicated on up to 100 Pacifica Network stations! Experience Talks is produced by the non-profit EngAGE, Inc.
Miss the show? You can always hear it as a podcast on the Listen Page of our website! You’ll also find an archive-in-progress of all of our previous shows there for you to enjoy. New shows are usually posted within 48 hours after broadcast.
KATHY GARVER is most fondly remembered for her starring role as “Cissy” in the long-running CBS international television hit, “Family Affair,” but she has also garnered critical acclaim in movies, stage, radio, voice-over animation, and audio book narration.
Hollywood’s legendary Cecil B. DeMille was one of the first to recognize Kathy’s distinct talents. Originally hired for a small part in the epic motion picture, “The Ten Commandments,” the great director had special scenes written into the movie to highlight the little girl. This followed her first film, “The Night of the Hunter,” directed by Academy Award winner Charles Laughton.
Ms. Garver was a freshman majoring in speech at UCLA when she was tested for a television series entitled, “Family Affair.” Kathy, deemed “perfect” to star as “Cissy” with Brian Keith as “Uncle Bill” and Sebastian Cabot as “Mr. French,” performed for five years in one of the warmest and most enduring series of the 1960’s and 70’s.
Today Kathy Garver is an accomplished and versatile actress. Having served on the board of the Young People’s Committee of the Screen Actors Guild and as a volunteer for Book Pals, Kathy has used her experience to help guide new actors in the business. She is also
involved in such charities as Child Help (which aids abused children), Rose Resnick Light House for the Blind, and Make a Wish Foundation.
Learn more about Kathy at KathyGarver.com.
