EngAGE changes lives by transforming affordable senior and multigenerational apartment communities into vibrant centers of learning, wellness, and creativity.
The North Hollywood Senior Arts Colony opened in March 2013, offering apartments for adults 62+ in the vibrant NOHO Arts District. In addition to amenities such as a fitness studio and swimming pool, the community offers a large visual arts studio and a stadium-style, 78-seat performing arts theater, professionally run by The Road Theatre Company. Residents enjoy a variety of arts, wellness, and lifelong learning programming provided by EngAGE.
NoHo SAC is the second of five Arts Colonies developed with Meta Housing in Southern California that we’re acknowledging as part of our 25th anniversary celebration.
EngAGE marks important holidays like Mother’s Day with inclusive activities and celebrations. In this case, residents at several communities created special projects to honor mothers and those serving as mothers! Here’s an example of residents at The Remi enjoying “Let’s ParTea & Paint,” Teaching Artist Meloney’s guided painting class, with jazz music, tea, and pastries..
A surprise can make a celebration even more fun. Residents at Dorado Senior Apartments craft every Thursday. These four regular participants made beautifully decoupaged vases, then were thrilled to receive fresh roses from Program Director Rosa for Mother’s Day!
EngAGE believes in the value of intergenerational connections. Five years ago, we had the opportunity to collaborate with Getty Unshuttered, a teen photography program of the J. Paul Getty Museum, inspired by Genesis Motor America. Mimi, one of thousands of young photographers who believe art can be a force for social change, visited the North Hollywood Senior Arts Colony to create documentary photos of our artistic residents for her project about “the youthfulness of elderly people.” The experience was positive for everyone!
Over the years, our arts programming has always been eclectic, embracing music (vocal and instrumental performance and music appreciation), writing (including poetry and screenwriting), acting (including improv), dance (including hip-hop), visual arts (including sculpture and painting), and crafts (including pottery, crochet, and making holiday decorations). We encourage our residents to stretch their imaginations, experiment, and have fun.
Crafting at Magnolia@Highland Senior Apartments often means exploring creativity in unexpected areas. In February, the resident artists started a new project with Teaching Artist Alma: making fascinator hats! However, the project was so exciting that it quickly inspired them to want to learn how to make other hat styles, too, including a cowboy hat, a cap, a fedora, and more. As the design process evolved, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the creative challenge, including Alma.
The hats began to take shape as residents stitched multiple types of fabrics by hand and with their new sewing machine. Alma encouraged them to design something uniquely their own.
The finished creations were exciting to behold! They had been working on these hats for months and had been talking about the outfits and shoes they would wear with them. There needed to be a special celebration to showcase the hats for neighbors and friends.
What better than an Oscar Party, complete with red carpet?!
Last minute adjustments were made (even with the new sewing machine breaking down!), accessories were chosen, and the group was ready to show off their work .
On June 12th, as the class participants arrived at the event, cell phones were raised by the other guests to take their pictures, and they were each greeted with applause and hugs.
Everyone ate, laughed, and danced to DJ David’s music.
At the end of the celebration, the guests voted for the best hat, and the top four were awarded a mini-Oscar and a gift card. The winners were:
1st – Gail (in pink, channeling Jessica Rabbit)
2nd – Bobbi (in purple with the bucket hat)
3rd – Marie (in black with the feather hat and fan)
4th – Rita (in brown leather with the cowboy hat)
Congratulations to all of our talented artists, Program Director Jessica (below with Bobbi), and Teaching Artist Alma (who declined having a photo included here!) for a wonderful, creative, EngAGEing arts and community-building experience!
Located just south of downtown Burbank, California, the Burbank Senior Artists Colony was a breakthrough senior housing model when it opened in 2005. EngAGE Founder Tim Carpenter and John Huskey of Meta Housing Corporation formed a partnership that brought the highest quality arts, wellness, and lifelong learning programming to a living environment that includes an art studio and performance space along with other community areas that encourage residents to gather together and grow personally. You can read more here, and enjoy this 2005 local news report to get a taste of life at BSAC.
BSAC was the first of five Arts Colonies opened to date in Southern California. We’ll be posting about all of them as part of our 25th anniversary celebration.
We thought it would be interesting to see what we posted about on this date ten years ago and discovered it was an article in ArtNews titled, “You Become Better with Age.” Here’s an observation from the article:
“At what age do people hit their stride professionally? Categorically speaking, athletes, engineers, politicians, television writers, salesmen, and actresses all have varying norms and shelf lives, sometimes affected by physical attributes or societal expectations. Seemingly immune to ageist perceptions and traditional notions of retirement are artists. A historical look reveals that a striking number have been highly productive and turned out some of their best work late into old age.”
At EngAGE, we have always believed that everyone, regardless of previous exposure to the arts, can develop an appreciation for art and become a practicing artist. For 25 years, we have been providing classes and encouragement to make that happen. We know that it’s never too late to start!
Here’s a wonderful two-minute video featuring a resident who began painting in her 80s.
Congratulations to the winning community in our “Naturally EngAGEd” photo competition: ACE/121, our intergenerational arts community in Glendale, CA!
The challenge for residents was to explore nature in their own neighborhoods. We received photographs ranging from expansive landscape views to flowers and trees to a tiny insect. Each community that submitted photos was entered in a random drawing to select the winner. ACE/121 residents and Program Director Nirvan will enjoy a party as well as a gift celebrating nature (to be determined).
Here are the entries from ACE/121. Click here to see photos from all 16 participating communities.
