“EngAGEing Your Inner Artist” Article in Life After 50

Logo -blk_borderClick here to read David Silva’s article in the current issue of Life After 50, both in print and online. He reports about the benefits of the many creative programs offered by EngAGE at Burbank Senior Artists Colony and other EngAGE communities:

Participants discover the hidden artists within themselves through a broad array of fine arts classes, including drawing, painting, sculpting, mask-making and collage. They write, stage, direct and perform in plays, learn to dance and perform and sing in front of audiences, write movie scripts and produce short films.

EngAGE programs are based on a three-pronged approach to what Maureen Kellen-Taylor, the organization’s chief operating officer, describes as “successful aging.”

“We have a rubric that we use as a programming guide,” she says. “It’s based on successful aging. Some of the factors of successful aging are to be creative, to have a network of social relationships, to learn new things and to be physically active. Each of these is a subset of our three focuses. We focus on creativity, lifelong learning and community building.

That sums it up nicely!

 

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Worth Repeating: TimeSlips Creative Storytelling Project

WORTH-REPEATING“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 9/22/11:

TimeSlips is an exciting new free interactive resource for storytelling designed to support growth and learning with people with dementia and their caregivers — but it’s fun for everyone. The website launches this weekend, but EngAGE Blog readers can get a sneak preview:

“Families wrestling with dementia are commonly consumed with the daily challenges of managing care,” says Anne Basting, PhD, Director of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s Center on Age & Community. “The new website provides a creative and positive way to engage and communicate that is not focused on the disease, but rather on growing, learning, and playing together.”

TimeSlips allows people with dementia to use free association to create original stories, using a variety of fun images and open-ended questions as prompts. This replaces the pressure to remember and the fear of saying something wrong or embarrassing with the pleasure of engaging the imagination.

TimeSlips.org and the companion online training have been endorsed by people with dementia and leaders in the fields of aging services, the arts, education and civic engagement. “The revelation and realization that, ‘I can’t remember, but I can IMAGINE!’ blessed my mind, heart and soul. I hope I remember that until I can’t remember!” said recently diagnosed Dave Sheehan, about the new online training.

The new web site enables anyone with an Internet connection to create stories with loved ones, friends or residents, regardless of where they live, and creates new opportunities to communicate with people with dementia.

The in-person version of the TimeSlips improvisational storytelling method was especially designed to foster communication with people with cognitive disabilities like dementia.  Peer-reviewed research suggests that TimeSlips storytelling activities improve communication and increase the pleasure and quality of life of people with dementia. In long term care facilities, it has been shown to increase social engagement between staff and residents. Since 1998, TimeSlips has trained more than 2,000 professional facilitators in the approach.

Visitors can use the website for free and without training, but are encouraged to take the new online training if they use the method with groups of people with dementia in professional or supportive settings. TimeSlips also offers individual and organizational certification.

For more information, please visit www.timeslips.org or contact TimeSlips

Contributed by EngAGE Executive Director Tim Carpenter

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Itineraries Quarterly Features Tim Carpenter and BSAC Artist Teddi Shattuck

EngAGE Founder & Executive Director Tim Carpenter has an article in the current issue of Itineraries, a quarterly journal from the non-profit Second Journey, Inc. The issue focuses on Aging in Community. Click here to read “An Artist Colony Where You Never Have to Go Home.” You’ll learn what motivates Tim’s work, how he developed his ideas, and you’ll get introduced to some of the talented residents at the Burbank Senior Artists Colony.

Teddi Shattuck painting in Egypt.

 

The cover of the print edition of the journal was painted by accomplished artist and Burbank Senior Artist Colony resident, Teddi Shattuck. Click here to read Teddi’s essay about her life and her art.

 

 

 

 

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Experience Talks 9/29: Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Tune in to Experience Talks, our “Radio Magazine for the Experienced Listener.” Saturdays 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time 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! You can also enjoy hearing all of our previous shows on the Listen Page of our Experience Talks website.

This week: Host Tim Carpenter talks with Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. He is the author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and film narration, and he is best known for his iconic book of poems, A Coney Island of the Mind, a collection that has been translated into nine languages, with sales of over one million copies. Tim Carpenter talks to 92-year-old Lawrence Ferlinghetti about his new book, Time of Useful Consciousness, and the poetry of a life well-lived. Click here to learn more about Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights Booksellers & Publishers.

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Tim Carpenter to Speak at Luminate in Scotland

Luminate’s Inaugural Annual International Lecture, “Thrive as We Age,” will be given by Tim Carpenter, founder and Executive Director of EngAGE and host/producer of the EXPERIENCE TALKS radio show. Luminate is Scotland’s Creative Aging Festival. Click here to get more information about this exciting event on October 11th!

 

 

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Baseball Keeps Octogenarian Young

 

SPORTSTroy Wammack, 88, is a pitcher and manager of the Fort Worth Senior Cats Gold softball team.

 “I personally believe it’s added about 10 years to my life,” said Wammack, who retired from a bookkeeping and tax service business in 1999. “My business kept my mind active and softball has kept my body active.”

Click here to read more and see great photos of Troy in action.

 

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Community Photo Albums: August

Residents at our EngAGE communities stayed busy in August with crafts, exercise, food distribution, and much more! Click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

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