2016 Wrap-Up + Thank You to Our Donors

Posted on January 18, 2017 by EngAGE

EngAGE had an expansive year in 2016. We now serve 32 communities in Southern California, and we added our first communities in Portland, OR, as well as in Minneapolis, MN.

We opened ACE/121, an exciting new family arts community in Glendale, CA.

EngAGE was featured in a new e-book from Next Avenue and Aroha Philanthropies entitled, Artful Aging: How Creativity Sparks Vitality and Transforms Lives. Our Intergenerational Programs, funded by the Eisner Foundation, were featured in an article in the California Health Report.

Tim Carpenter, Founder and Executive Director of EngAGE, was honored by being named one of Next Avenue’s Influencers in Aging.

Tim traveled extensively, including a trip to Singapore, at the invitation of the National Arts Council, where he gave the keynote address at the Arts in Eldercare Seminar 2016. He also spoke at the NCCA Annual Conference; the Oregon Arts Summit; the AARP Convention; the Sarnat Symposium for Geriatric Care, and other events.

Perhaps most significantly, Tim reached his 55th birthday, making him eligible, as he pointed out, to live in an EngAGE community!

All of this is made possible by the important support EngAGE gratefully receives from many sources, most notably:

Aroha Philanthropies
The Eisner Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation
May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust
Weingart Foundation
and
The Durfee Foundation 2016/17 Stanton Fellowship awarded to Tim Carpenter

AARP
The Ahmanson Foundation
The Annenberg Foundation
Bank of America Charitable Foundation
California Arts Council
Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles
The Green Foundation
Los Angeles County Arts Commission
& Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Meta Housing Corporation
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
The Meta & George Rosenberg Foundation
S. Mark Taper Foundation

We also appreciate the generous support of:

All Valley Washer Service, Inc.
American Society of Consultant Pharmacists
Arts Council for Long Beach
Atlantic Regional Commission
Bank of America Corporation
Bank of America United Way/Employee Giving
Brotman Foundation of California
California Community Foundation
The City of Pomona
ECHO – Employees Charity Organization of Northrup Grumman
Farmer’s and Merchant’s Bank
Foundation for Affordable Housing II, Inc.
Fountain Valley Community Foundation
Grantmakers in the Arts
Harbro-West, Inc.
Highridge Costa Housing Partners, LLC
Indiana University
Intersection for the Arts
KTGY Group
Lee-Moore Capital Company
Legacy Partners Residential, Inc.
Lifetime Arts
Lucas General Contracting Corporation
MN Creative Arts & Aging/ArtSage
Montgomery Development Carolina Corporation
National Center for Creative Aging
National Guild for Community Arts Education, Inc.
Newport Harbor Animal Hospital
K.T. and E.L. Norris Foundation
Northrop Grumman
P+R Architects
Poets & Writers
Samantha Swaim Fundraising, LLC / Swaim Strategies
State of North Carolina
Steadfast Investment Properties, Inc.
WSH Management
Wells Fargo
Western Community Housing
Western Lincoln Housing Partners, LP, Solara Court Senior Apartments

and

Harriet Apalategui
Alexandra Ayer
Vicki Clark
Margaret Drislane
Rodney Emery
Bob & Gayle Murray

A special thank you to our Board of Directors:

Charmaine Atherton
Dr. Gregory Berkhoff
William Cavanaugh
John Fugo
Sylvia Kaplan
Melissa Lanfre
Anthony E. Polk
Phil Starr
Robert T. Wang, Ph.D, M.D.
Keren Brown Wilson

We also want to thank you, our readers, for your interest in EngAGE!

In 2017, we look forward to another year of providing arts, wellness, lifelong learning, community building, and intergenerational programs to thousands of seniors and families living in affordable apartment communities in Southern California; Portland, OR; and Minneapolis, MN.

 

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News from Andalucia: Holiday Singalong

Posted on January 17, 2017 by EngAGE

The residents of Andalucia in Van Nuys, CA, have been coming to the Holiday Singalong Party for 6 years. Louahn Lowe on piano and Theo Stevens on sax provide the entertainment of mixed secular and non-secular songs. Elizabeth Sampson makes Holiday Singalong Books so that everyone can join in the lyrics and sing out with commitment. She 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 care-givers 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 Sampson’s properties, and an evening we look forward to all year.

At one point in the song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” we all looked up to notice that Programs Assistant Brian Cole was putting the star on the tree just as we all sang “So hang a shining star upon the highest bough” – it was a perfect moment of timing and magic.

~ Elizabeth Sampson, Regional Program Director

 

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News from Cascadian Terrace: Art + Cooking

Posted on January 16, 2017 by EngAGE

Cascadian Terrace in Portland, OR, closed out the year with an unusual and creative six-week Duct Tape Art Class led by Teaching Artist Mona Superhero. Great fun!

Residents were enthusiastic about the Cascadian Terrace Iron Chef Competition led by Friendly House! Three brave residents signed on to be contestants, while several others volunteered for the job of tasting the food, and two were selected to be our “celebrity” judges, along with staff.  Competitors were given baskets with somewhat obscure ingredients (quinoa, feta cheese, etc.), recipe suggestions, and basic rules for the game. Contestants took their baskets back to their apartments and began cooking. Residents brought their completed meals at the time of the competition and there was a discussion about the creativity of their recipes, the likelihood that they would make the recipes again, the health benefits of the foods used, and of course, how good their food was. The competition was too close to call, so everyone was declared a winner and left with prizes! Suggestions for next time included using even more challenging ingredients, and contestants preparing an appetizer, entrée, and dessert, much like on the show, “Chopped.”

~ Robin Hart, Director of Programming and Development

 

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Congressman John Lewis

Posted on January 15, 2017 by EngAGE

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an exceptional holiday; it’s celebrated as a day of service. If you search Google, you’ll find a tremendous number of activities that are scheduled across the country to honor Dr. King’s memory. We thought we’d celebrate the holiday by calling attention to a public servant who marched with Dr. King and who carries on his legacy to this day: Congressman John Lewis.

 

Often called  “one of the most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced,” John Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building what he calls “The Beloved Community” in America. His dedication to the highest ethical standards and moral principles has won him the admiration of many of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the United States Congress.

He has been called “the conscience of the U.S. Congress,” and Roll Call magazine has said, “John Lewis…is a genuine American hero and moral leader who commands widespread respect in the chamber.”

John Lewis has been a member of Congress since 1987, and is an elder statesman of the Democratic party and a figure of huge respect for his role in the civil rights struggle of the 1960s. He was a Freedom Rider, spoke at the 1963 March on Washington, and took part in the march across the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama, led by Dr. King in 1965. In the bloody conflict that followed when police broke up the peaceful marchers, Mr. Lewis suffered serious injuries.

Congressman Lewis is the recipient of numerous awards from eminent national and international institutions, including the highest civilian honor granted by President Barack Obama, the Medal of Freedom; the Lincoln Medal from the historic Ford’s Theatre; the Golden Plate Award given by the Academy of Excellence; the Preservation Hero award given by the National Trust for Historic Preservation; the Capital Award of the National Council of La Raza;  the Martin Luther King, Jr. Non-Violent Peace Prize; the President’s Medal of Georgetown University; the NAACP Spingarn Medal; the National Education Association Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award; and the only John F. Kennedy “Profile in Courage Award” for Lifetime Achievement ever granted by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Read his full biography here and watch a two-minute video from the History Channel.

 

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News from Tavarua: “EngAGE with Creativity” Art Class

Posted on January 14, 2017 by EngAGE

The residents of Tavarua Senior Apartments in Carlsbad, CA, started the New Year attending their “EngAGE with Creativity” class. They were inspired by artist Linda Luisi. The outcome continues to motivate others to expand, explore, and learn through creativity and design.

~ Tracy Freeburg, Program Coordinator

 

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News from San Antonio Gardens: Memory Games and Fitness

Posted on January 13, 2017 by EngAGE

Residents tone up mentally as they work on their critical thinking skills during Memory Game class, and they tone up physically with Wii Fit in Health Awareness class.

~ Sandra Vargas, Regional Program Director

 

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Experience Talks 1/15: Burt Young

Posted on January 12, 2017 by EngAGE

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.

 

JANUARY 15, 2017 @ 5 PM PT
BURT YOUNG
with host JOHN SEMPER JR.

BURT YOUNG is a burly, talented character actor who has remained consistently busy playing “rough around the edge” types, often on the wrong side of the law.

He was born on April 30, 1940 in New York City, where he received his dramatic arts training under legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.

Young first garnered notice playing tough thugs in such films as The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight, Across 110th Street, Chinatown, and The Gambler. Fiery director Sam Peckinpah cast Young as the getaway driver/assassin, “Mac,” in The Killer Elite, and Young came to the attention of newcomer Sylvester Stallone, who cast him as future brother-in-law, “Paulie,” in the 1976 sleeper hit, Rocky. Young received an Oscar nomination for the role, which he has gone on to reprise in five Rocky sequels.

He won the Best Actor Festival Prize from the Atlantic City Cinefest, and was nominated for Best Actor awards by the Queens World Film Festival and the Maverick Movie Awards for his role in the short film, Tom in America (2014). He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hoboken International Film Festival.

Young has appeared in numerous major film productions, including Once Upon a Time in America, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Mickey Blue Eyes, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, and Win Win.

On Stage Now!

Academy Award-nominated actor Burt Young takes on the role of an aging mob boss in a new comedy written and directed by David Varriale. The world
premiere of The Last Vig will open Jan. 14 at the Zephyr Theatre on Melrose for a six-week run.

Joined onstage by Ben Adams (West End and national touring productions of Peter Pan), Clint Jung, (Ray Donovan, Prison Break, Music Within), Bruce Nozick (Weeds, All the Way, The Last Ship) and Gareth Williams (Dawson’s Creek, The Shield), Young will play the character of “Big Joe,” a Mafia wiseguy getting along in years who might just be the last of a dying breed. “I wanted to look at the changing of the guard,” explains Varriale. “For so long the mob was part of our cultural mythology. But there don’t seem to be any superstars left. Gambino, Gotti – they’re all dead. Bulger is incarcerated. Atlantic City is going bankrupt.” In The Last Vig, times are changing. Big Joe is old. But is he out? Can he stay in the game with the help of his young, hip-hop loving assistant, Bocce, and his old friend, Jimmy “The Fixer” D? Or will the juice on the $100K he owes be his last vig?

Get tickets here!

Zephyr On Melrose
7456 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA  90046
Ample Street Parking
(323) 653-4667 Theater Phone

Also on this show . . .

Experience Talks Producer/Host Cynthia Friedlob shares one of her In My Experience commentaries from 2009 entitled, “The Ephemeral Nature of Live Theater.”

 

 

 

 

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