Publications
Creative Aging in NYC
2020
Kaufman, J., & Finkelstein, R. (2020). Creative aging in NYC. New York: Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging.
Jennie Kaufman and Ruth Finkelstein
This white paper reports findings from the New York City Creative Aging Initiative, a two-year collaboration among Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging, Lifetime Arts, and LiveOn NY. The New York Community Trust funded the initiative to strengthen and advance the field of creative aging in the city, with a focus on the SU-CASA arts program, which provides grants to artists and cultural organizations to bring stimulating interactive arts programs to senior centers and other senior-serving organizations across the five boroughs.
Brookdale’s team conducted a two-year field analysis of SU-CASA and used the findings to help develop recommendations. The evidence brings us to four salient conclusions:
—Creative aging is a natural for NYC, an art-happy city with a built-in structure for arts education in its 250+ senior centers and 200+ library branches.
—Participants rave about creative aging programs and their benefits—and some research supports their perceptions.
—Older adults at all senior-serving organizations deserve SU-CASA at its best. SU-CASA’s reach is tremendous, but not all senior centers have the resources they need to implement it successfully.
—With robust success so far, yet with room for improvement, SU-CASA is ready for an infrastructure upgrade.
Recommendations center on three areas:
Infrastructure. SU-CASA needs a single entity charged with providing administrative support to the New York City Council, the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Department for the Aging, as well as the borough arts councils, cultural organizations, and senior centers implementing it. No single office currently oversees program-wide coordination, training needs, procedures, budgeting guidelines, or marketing.
Equity. Improving the infrastructure is particularly important for senior centers and cultural organizations that are smaller, that have fewer resources, or that are newer to SU-CASA and creative aging. Attention should focus on ensuring that all centers and organizations can make the most of the opportunity SU-CASA provides.
Integration into the city arts ecosystem. Strengthening creative aging in NYC calls for raising the profile of SU-CASA and fostering wider engagement with potential partners.
New York City is already a leader in creative aging. The city’s SU-CASA program offers exuberant evidence of this: participants love it and attest to the difference it makes in their lives. This is an ideal time to build on SU-CASA’s success and help creative aging to expand and thrive in NYC.
Download the PDF of the full report
Download the Executive Summary presentation