What Does Creative Aging Look Like?
Creative aging refers to research-driven art-based programs that inspire creativity and joy, promote vital social connections, and preserve agency and dignity for older adults. These programs awaken playfulness, celebrate life stories, and foster belonging – reminding us that the ability to grow, connect, and imagine knows no age. It's practiced across various fields, delivery formats, ages, and health conditions. Creative aging isn’t a curriculum or a checklist. It’s not one-size-fits-all, and it’s never off-the-shelf. It might look like memory cafes, choirs or cheerleading, printmaking or poetry, solo reflection or intergenerational collaboration. It’s as varied as the people who bring it to life.
Learn more by reading my essay "What Does Creative Aging Look Like?" in Lifetime Arts' Creative Aging Resource Journal.
creative aging in practice
Creative AGing Sessions At Beyond Blue Neighborhood Center in Boone
I lead monthly creative aging sessions at Beyond Blue Neighborhood Center on select Thursdays from 10:00 to 11:30 am (advance registration required; call 828-276-1294).
Upcoming 2026 sessions include:
January 22: Nature Collage Bookmarks
February 26: Still Lives
March 26: Folded Book Journals
April 16: Decoupage Flower Pots
May 28: Suncatchers
June 25: Tapestry Weaving
July 23: Watercolor Fruit Painting
August 27: Portraits of Place
October 22: Story Tiles
November 19: Gratitude Beads
December 17: Embellished Paper Snowflakes
SPARK Creative Aging Program at Florence Thomas Art School in West Jefferson, NC
During my time at Florence Thomas Art School (FTAS), I led the SPARK Creative Aging Program which partnered with aging services locations (Generations Ashe and Forest Ridge Assisted Living) to bring art engagement workshops to older adults in Ashe County, NC. With professional teaching artists, I led interactive creative workshops to provide vital opportunities for social connection and self expression that combat social isolation as we age.
creative aging research
The Creative Aging Impact Story: A Storytelling Resource
This resource is a tool for sharing the creative aging impact story and advocating for increased support across sectors and further integration of creative aging into public health, policy, and social infrastructure. This guide describes creative aging, explains its benefits, expresses its importance as the aging population grows, details the field’s barriers to sustainability and expansion, shares the field’s dreams for the future, provides advice on presenting this information as “the creative aging impact story,” includes examples of sharing creative aging stories, and invites you to craft your creative aging impact story. Explaining creative aging as a story is essential for the field to increase its impact and expand the reach of this vital programming. This resource was created for creative aging professionals seeking to grow the field’s impact and advocate for creative aging across sectors, and can be referenced and utilized by those adjacent to creative aging programs who want to understand them and/or contribute support.
Sharing the Creative Aging Impact Story: Navigating Barriers, Pursuing Sustainability, and Dreaming into the Future
Abstract: The United States population is rapidly aging and as negative narratives about aging are perpetuated by persistent ageism, older age is often accompanied by social isolation and diminished well-being. Creative aging programs are an excellent solution. These research-driven arts-based programs engage older adults–often those living with dementia–and their care partners in interactive art experiences. They aim to inspire creativity and joy; promote vital social connections; support physical, cognitive, emotional, and social well-being; and preserve agency and dignity. While creative aging program development is growing, the field encounters barriers of funding, capacity, transportation, visibility, and more that inhibit program sustainability, let alone expansion to meet demand. Through conversational interviews, this research investigates these barriers and discusses interviewees’ dreams for the field to critically examine its potential for increased impact as policy-making for “age-friendly” longevity-focused communities gains greater support. By raising questions and theorizing about how dreams of new funding streams, communication networks, a national teaching artist certification, and the integration of arts on prescription into healthcare could be pursued, the goal is to increase creative aging’s visibility and turn negative, fearful narratives of aging into positive aging stories of purpose and vitality.