AN EXHIBITION OF WORK FROM EDUCATIONAL ALLIANCE’S OLDER ADULT PROGRAMS

To honor the theme of Older Americans Month – Age My Way – and to celebrate our community members, Educational Alliance invited all of our arts programs across five older adult sites to participate in the first Celebrate Arts festival. This month-long festival will feature art galleries and creative performances highlighting the work of our older adults at the Weinberg Center for Balanced Living @ Manny Cantor Center (MCC), Sirovich Center for Balanced Living, the 14th Street Y, Co-Op Village NORC, and Project ORE.   

The virtual gallery hosted by MCC features painting, drawing, mixed medium, and ceramic works by older adult artists in our community as part of that celebration. Here we are featuring the work made by members who are currently isolated and homebound or relocated from their neighborhoods as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the implementation of virtual and hybrid programs, Educational Alliance older adult sites have helped members to remain engaged with their peers and connected to the communities they still call home.

After a difficult pandemic period, we partnered with Pratt Institute’s Creative Arts Therapy program to provide members a safe space to express and process the experience. Through the organization’s rich history of working with artists, we understand the healing power of the arts and the connection it forges between mind and body.