Please join us for First Thursday at Pac Arts in San Pedro on Thursday, August 4th @ 6 p.m. for our “TRIANGLE TRIBE” Artists’ Opening Reception. Three gifted, emerging female artists created a mind meld to bring you this unique, collaborative show. Enjoy refreshments, music, and very cool art! ~ Questions? Contact Helene Weinberg, Creative Programs Director, at HeleneEngage@gmail.com
We were delighted to read this post about the top ten health benefits our residents enjoy while making pottery. It’s more than a creative outlet; it can improve your health!
EngAGE offers a variety of classes, workshops, and special programs at each
of our communities. These posts highlight just a small sample.
The Eisner Foundation is a generous supporter of EngAGE’s intergenerational programs, mentioned in the California Health Report article entitled, “How uniting kids, elders helps both,” written by Matt Perry:
“It’s a solution for two problems at once: children desperately need mentors to guide them, and isolated seniors yearn for more connection and meaning. The growing intergenerational activities movement received a powerful jolt last year when the Los Angeles-based Eisner Foundation sharpened its focus to solely support intergenerational programming.”
Click here to read the full article.
Tim Carpenter, EngAGE Founder & Executive Director, will be on a panel discussing “Self-Fulfillment” at this important conference.
The growing number of older people is a rich bank of human capital that, if utilized, can be a great asset to younger people. Equally so, younger generations bring talents and skills that can benefit older generations. Researchers, experts, policymakers and advocates in the areas of health, financial security and personal fulfillment are beginning to more fully understand how applying an intergenerational lens to these issues leads to the development of programs and initiatives that benefit not only participants but entire communities and strengthen the bonds across generations.
AARP has a long history of supporting intergenerational partnerships and activities that enrich the lives of young and old. AARP Foundation’s Experience Corps have older adults serve as mentors and role models to young students across the country. AARP is an active supporter of Generations United, a broad coalition of organizations serving as a catalyst to bring single-age focused groups together to build and support a common agenda while providing a unique voice in public debate. Generations United leaders will join AARP in this dialogue along with representatives from various other groups currently running intergenerational programs or conducting research in this field.
AARP will host a daylong conversation on the programs already successfully implementing intergenerational approaches along with the research underpinning how and why such initiatives benefit younger and older Americans. This conversation will serve as more than a summary of the successes and challenges of such work. The event will initiate a longer-term engagement and discussion in an effort to spark new thinking about how to support intergenerational approaches to solving problems in mutually beneficial ways.
“Worth Repeating” is a weekly feature on the EngAGE Blog that will bring you previous posts that we think are still timely, interesting, or just plain fun! From 7/13/15:
“Though eco-conscious retirement communities are still rare in the United States (exact figures are scant), they are expected to grow in number as baby boomers age and seek healthier, greener alternatives.” Click here to read about what “green” means (there are many levels of commitment) and learn about an example: earth-friendly Wake Robin in Shelburne, Vt.
Artists Julie Dickey and Sandy Stevens are founders of “The Passionate HeARTs” in San Clemente. They offer classes and workshops with the goal of helping people rediscover or find their lost “voices” and embrace the ability to express themselves through art. Recently, they happened to run into Jennifer Fallon, Program Coordinator at Cotton’s Point Senior Apartments, also in San Clemente. Here’s what Julie and Sandy have to say:
After meeting with Jennifer and hearing about the wonderful things EngAGE does in the community, we felt like our mission statement and vision was a perfect fit: “To practice any art, no matter how well, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.” We find these words by Kurt Vonnegut truly words to live by. There is no end to where your imagination can take you, whether you think you’re creative or not. With Jennifer it took us to a series of classes with the residents at Cotton’s Point. We will be working with them to create a mural that will be shown at the EngAGE Senior Games in September.
Part of what we like to teach people is if a piece of glass or bead can stick to an object, you can have your way with it. We are also big fans of re-purposing vintage objects — doll parts (really love heads and arms!!), musical instruments, mannequins, etc. The possibility and creativity hidden in these items is our biggest challenge and we LOVE turning them into art. We are drawn to whimsical, 3-D garden art and murals, unique pieces that are out of the norm. There is much laughter, abnormality, and fun that goes into each piece we create.
What inspires us? The right side of our brains, glass (it’s alive!), color, our kids, having a voice, thinking outside the box, adding beauty anywhere we can. Sometimes it’s just as simple as paying it forward by sharing our passion and love for art with someone who thinks they aren’t creative or couldn’t be an artist, and then the giant look of surprise and satisfaction when they discover they can and are!
To learn more about Julie and Sandy’s work, please visit their website.
While Experience Talks is on hiatus, we thought we’d take a moment to introduce you to the team. We’re scheduled to be back on the air on Sunday, July 24th, at 5:00 p.m. on KPFK-FM 90.7 Los Angeles, 98.7 Santa Barbara, 93.7 North San Diego, 99.5 Ridgecrest, and streaming live at www.kpfk.org. Please join us then!
We also hope you’ll support KPFK during this Fund Drive. KPFK accepts no advertising. It’s the only station truly powered by the people. Your membership pledge keeps the station on the air. Join for $25 and demonstrate how much you value a progressive media outlet that challenges corporate media perspectives while providing a voice to voiceless communities. If you can, please consider becoming a sustaining member, providing the station with regular support every month. Click the button to donate any amount online.
If you’d like to get a cool t-shirt, mug, water bottle, or tote bag featuring the KPFK logo, visit the KPFK Zazzle Store. All profits go to the radio station to keep it on the air. Thanks!
TIM CARPENTER, PRODUCER/HOST
Tim Carpenter is the Founder and Executive Director of EngAGE and host/producer of the Experience Talks radio show. EngAGE is a nonprofit that changes aging and the way people think about aging by transforming senior apartment communities into vibrant centers of learning, wellness and creativity. EngAGE provides life-enhancing arts, wellness, lifelong learning, community building, and intergenerational programs and events to thousands of seniors living in Southern California. Tim catalyzed the creation of the Burbank Senior Artists Colony, a first-of-its-kind senior apartment community with high-end arts amenities and programs. He serves on the board of the National Center for Creative Aging. In 2008, Tim was elected an Ashoka Fellow for being one of the top social entrepreneurs in the world, and in 2011 he received the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. He is also the recipient of a Durfee Foundation 2016/17 Stanton Fellowship.
DR. CONNIE CORLEY, MSW, MA, Ph.D., PRODUCER/HOST
Dr. Corley is a Professor at Fielding Graduate University and California State University Los Angeles (and Associate Director of Lifelong Learning, Applied Gerontology Institute). She completed her graduate degrees at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She holds certification from the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, DC and is adjunct faculty at Saybrook University. Dr. Corley’s 100+ publications and national/international presentations have spanned the fields of aging and the arts, geriatrics, rehabilitation, spirituality, and substance abuse. She has been a mentor in Geriatric Social Work Initiatives funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation, and also a mentor in the New Ventures in Leadership program of the American Society on Aging (ASA). She is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), Past President of the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work (AGE-SW), a recipient of the AGE-SW Leadership Award, and in 2004 was the Inaugural recipient of the West Coast Gerontological Social Work Career Award from the Institute for Geriatric Social Work. Cal State LA named Dr. Corley a Distinguished Woman in 2008. She is in “Who’s Who in America” and “Who’s Who of American Women.” Click here to visit her website.
CYNTHIA FRIEDLOB, PRODUCER/HOST
In addition to producing/hosting, Cynthia promotes Experience Talks and its non-profit producer, EngAGE, in the public eye through online updates, posts and tweets on social media. She has also contributed to our “In My Experience” segments where she waxes poetic about the value of experience and how we might want to listen to and learn from it now and again. Cynthia’s career includes many years as a writer of children’s television shows and family feature films, and she the author of the humorous self-help book, Sorting It Out: How One Disorganized Woman Solved the Problem of Too Much Stuff. She is also a regularly exhibiting fine artist, showing paintings, drawings, and digital art. She has a B.A. in Sociology and an M.A. in Mass Communications from the University of Denver. For more information, click here to go to her website.
JOHN SEMPER JR., PRODUCER/HOST
John is an Emmy-nominated writer, story-editor, and producer with thirty years of experience in the entertainment industry, focusing primarily on animation and children’s television. He has worked for Hanna-Barbera, Marvel, Jim Henson, and many other production companies. His extensive credits include producer/story editor/writer of the Fox TV show, “Spider-Man: The Animated Series,” and the PBS animated pre-school series, “Jay Jay the Jet Plane”; writer of the English language scripts for the Hayao Miyazaki feature films, “Kiki’s Delivery Service” and “Laputa: Castle in the Sky”; and writer of the Warner Bros. live-action feature film, “Class Act.” He is currently writing the “Cyborg” comic book for DC Comics. John has a B.A. from Harvard University. Click here to read more at his website.
CHRISTAL SMITH, PRODUCER
Christal has more than twenty years of experience as a broadcast journalist with experience as a producer, editor and reporter. She was the senior producer of NPR affiliate KPCC’s “Talk of the City,” a daily public affairs program, from 1999-2006. As a freelance producer she has worked on NPR’s “Day to Day,” and “Weekend America” and the NBC Nightly News. She was also senior producer of the monthly public radio news magazine “The Tibet Connection” heard on the Pacifica Network’s KPFK-FM in Southern California. She holds an M.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism from NYU. She was part of the “Kitchen Sisters” team, which won a Peabody Award in 2002 for the Sonic Memorial Project, plus she won a Golden Mike Award for Best Series in 2003 and numerous other journalism awards.
BOBBEE ZENO, FOUNDING PRODUCER/HOST (1953 – 2014)
The late Bobbee Zeno studied Mass Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations at California State University in Fresno. He received a BA in Metaphysics while undergoing concurrent graduate studies in Transpersonal Metaphysical Counseling at the University of Metaphysics in Sedona. He also received an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humanities from Stephens Seminary College for his exemplary work in arts communities throughout Los Angeles. His concern for designing transformational, optimal, real life, intergenerational creative programming for elders in their second prime of life informed his passionate community work with older adults. Bobbee received a U.S. Congressional Award for his Community Service to Seniors through his radio work. Bobbee’s legacy will live on in the community he loved and served. Click here to listen to a special 1-hour KPFK-FM tribute show from May 3, 2014.
