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Creating Connections Across Generations

arts & culture

Creative Aging + Well Being Convening

How can art support healthy aging? Join the Denver Art Museum (DAM) and fellow creative aging practitioners who work with older adults, programs, and services to…

  • Learn about creative aging
  • Make connections with colleagues
  • Experience the DAM’s creative aging programs

The Creative Aging + Wellbeing Convening is a day-long event designed for professionals interested in exploring the field of creative aging through hands-on learning and small group discussions. The program includes: 

  • The Future of Creative Aging panel discussion: Keynote panel discussion on creating reciprocal community partnerships, integrating arts into existing services, and building staff capacity. 
  • Program Sampling: Experience firsthand the DAM’s programs and spaces designed for adults 55+.
  • How to Design for Wellbeing workshop: Interactive workshop covering design and evaluation tools using a wellbeing lens.  Participants will receive a printed toolkit that they can use when designing their own programs.

LinkAGES is a proud supporter of this event.

ReelAbilities Film Festival: A Festival Accessible for All

ReelAbilities Festival in Denver Banner

Staenberg – Loup Jewish Community Center is thrilled to host its 2nd annual ReelAbilities Film Festival, which is dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories, and artistic expressions of people with disabilities. This festival brings people together to engage in stimulating conversations around inclusion, access, and justice, leveraging the power of cinema and cultural engagement to challenge the status quo and build a more inclusive and equitable world. ReelAbilities Denver is for everyone including those with disabilities, disability advocates, artists, allies and more. Hosting this international festival in Denver brings this programming to a local level, fostering partnerships with area organizations doing incredible work to serve disability communities and advocates, and utilizing our platform to highlight these partners and connect festival goers to their programs and services. 

Unboxed: An intergenerational LGBTQ+ program exploring identity through art & stories

Exploring our own personal identities and histories is a complex and vulnerable experience. Denver Public Library and StoryCenter created a safe space for six older adults and six teenagers, all part of the LGBTQ+ community, to come together and do just that in Fall 2021.

During an intergenerational program, participants dove into writing prompts, wellness exercises, and art activities while forming bonds and friendships with one another. They explored their own personal stories while listening to those of other participants. At the end, they each completed a 2-4 minute digital film about their personal identities. Many participants are still in touch. 

Denver Public Library and StoryCenter produced a Zine to share some participant stories. “D’s Story” is below and you can view the whole Zine here in PDF format. Keep scrolling to read a powerful testimony from one of the participants.

LinkAGES is proud to have funded and supported Unboxed.

Unboxed Participant Testimony

Dear Amy,

I just wanted to write to thank you for the program Unboxed: An Intergenerational Digital Storytelling Project for LGBTQ+ Teens and Older Adults. It was an extraordinary experience that I will never forget, especially now that I have a digital story I can share with my family and friends. 

This program was special because we met six times and I was able to develop friendships that have lasted beyond the program. In addition to sharing our stories, we shared how we were doing and did wellness activities such as breathing, meditating, and journaling or drawing. One of the older adults, for example, fell down her stairs and seriously injured her back, yet she kept coming to the sessions. She said she really appreciated our support during a tough time. Another older adult had some difficulty with the technology, so we met together several times in person to work on our stories together. Now that the workshop is over, we check in with each other every week or so by phone or email and meet every now and then to catch up.   

The extended program also helped me get to know the teen participants. I learned a lot from the young people. I realized that while they have access to the Internet and many more resources than I had as a queer teen, they still face prejudice and discrimination. They are coming out at a younger age and thus have to face homophobia and transphobia as early as grade school. I came to admire their courage and integrity. I wish there were more opportunities for LGBTQ+ older adults and teens to interact like we did in Unboxed. At one point, one of the teens said they appreciated seeing older adults who survived and thrived–it gave them hope for their own futures. I replied that it meant everything to us older adults to see resilient, thoughtful, compassionate young people who will lead us into the future. 

I can’t say enough about the Denver Public Library staff and Story Center facilitators who guided us through the workshop. Jonny, Ngozi, Casey, and Holly made me feel safe to talk about past trauma and take the risk of being vulnerable in my creative work. We developed a creative community, discussing how to represent our struggles and joys as queer people. Jonny and Ngozi taught us how to use the technology and sharpen our storytelling techniques. Holly took us through several art projects that opened up my thinking and improved my project. Casey was an ever-present source of compassion and encouragement. When we shared our digital stories at the end of the program, I felt as much pride for others as I did for myself. I was moved to tears several times, remembering how intimidating it was for some of us to first share our stories. My triumph wasn’t so much about “I did it!” as it was about “we did it!”

I have been struggling with anxiety/depression during the pandemic and having this weekly meeting, along with the creative project to work on, gave me a sense of community and purpose. One of the older adults said it well–“this is helping my self-esteem!” I’m sure this Unboxed program took a great deal of planning and resources. I am grateful. Very grateful.

Thank you for all you are doing for older adults at Denver Public Library and for bringing us this amazing program. 

Bob & Tiffany: An intergenerational friendship

Tiffany was on scholarship at the University of Denver, finishing her senior year in her late 30s, when she signed up for a photography class. She had recently begun taking more photos and wanted to sharpen her skills by learning new techniques. When she sat down on her first day of class, she couldn’t remember reading in the course description that she and her college peers would be learning alongside older adults (50-years-old and older). She wondered if this would make the class boring, sitting with not much to say to someone decades older than she.

Bob and Tiffany stand in front of a photo of themselves at the Denver art Museum. They both wear huge smiles.
Tiffany (left) and Bob (right) at the Photography & Memory Exhibit at the Denver Art Museum.

Bob’s friends convinced him to participate in a photography class. He had recently retired from a storied career that had taken him all over the country. Early on in his military service in St. Louis, he picked up his first camera. He began taking photographs of everyone, which eventually included Popes and presidents. In his 40s, he started going blind– a struggle that changed the trajectory of his life. Thirty years later, with more time on his hands, he was once again pursuing photography. A social person who had always worked in intergenerational settings, he looked forward to engaging with his peers and college students. See Bob’s photography on his website Weinberg Photographics.

Bob and Tiffany formed a fast and lasting friendship. Over more than two years, they have become confidantes– celebrating one another’s joys, navigating a global pandemic, and grieving the loss of loved ones. On the night that their class’s Photography & Memory exhibit went up in the Denver Art Museum, they nearly missed one another. But as Bob was about to get on his bus, Tiffany ran across the street to greet him, having just driven all the way from Tulsa. They re-entered the exhibit together, and their obvious connection and joy at being together inspired us to capture their story. 

LinkAGES story of Bob & Tiffany. You can also view it on our youtube channel.

About Photography & Storytelling

Photography & Storytelling is an intergenerational program that brings older adults (50-years-old and older) and University of Denver seniors together. They learn the art of photography in the context of a specific theme, such as self or memory. It is facilitated in partnership with the University of Denver and Denver Public Library, and funded by LinkAGES Colorado.

Program designed and facilitated by:

  • Roddy MacInnes, Professor, University of Denver
  • Anne Walker, Doctoral Student and Instructor, University of Denver
  • Amy Delpo, Administrator of Older Adult Services, Denver Public Library
Exhibit Host: Denver Art Museum
 
Video Produced by: Farsighted Creative in collaboration with Aging Dynamics