Sharing the Visual Arts
Arts to Elders thanks the Port Townsend Arts Commission for 2011 funding!
Arts to Elders has afternoon concerts every other month: 2011 concerts start in January, and are held on the second Tuesday, from 2:30-4:30pm. All the concerts are held at Seaport Landing.
The Arts to Elders program brings art to the elderly residing in senior residences and care facilities with participatory visual arts and humanities presentations and quality musical events. Presentations and concerts are often open to the public at large; check the NAA website Announcements for program information.
The program has been in operation since July of 2007. The idea for the program began when Sylvia White noticed that many of the elderly in town were not being served by Northwind’s mission which is “…to connect arts and community”. Elders who were home bound could not come to the art exhibits, lectures, poetry, drama and other activities sponsored by Northwind. Her program brings arts and humanities programs to elders on site.
The program employs local professionals to visit seniors and gain their participation in activities like discussion of art history, culture expressed in music and singing, drama and poetry writing, and acting out personal experiences. White emphasizes that this is not a program about ‘filling time”. Rather it is about stimulating the inherent capacity of elders to learn and to think and act creatively. Recent studies by neurologists, psychiatrists, and geriatricians demonstrate that people over the age of 75 continue to have a powerful capacity to process information, to think critically and to make new connections with their brains.
The program is hosted at Seaport Landing, and three other residences for seniors (San Juan Commons, Discovery Bay Apartments, and Victoria House) and the Kah Tai Care facility are invited to bus residents to all Arts to Elders events. The Program Director, Harvey Putterman, works closely with the artists and the Activity Directors at each venue.
Harvey Putterman, whose fabulous commitment of time and energy has made this program a wonderful success, would prefer to step down in the near future. Therefore we are looking for a new Director for this very modestly paid position. Applicants for the job should contact Sylvia White at (360) 379-6833.
Funding
The Port Townsend Arts Commission has awarded Arts to Elders another grant that will support Arts to Elders events through 2011. Funding is always tight however, and additional contributions are always very gratefully received, and will be used to schedule more events for the senior community in Port Townsend.
To donate online please use the GuideStar charitable organizations network, which directs donations made at the site to the designated registered non-profit organization. NOTE that the GuideStar donation page will show “Jefferson Arts Alliance, also known as Northwind Arts Alliance” until we complete the name change to Northwind Arts Alliance. Please select the option to direct your donation to “Arts to Elders”!
Donate at Northwind Arts Center, or by mail to: Northwind Arts Allliance, 2409 Jefferson St., Port Townsend, WA 93689. Please include a note directing the donation to “Arts to Elders”.
Many community organizations have contributed to this program, among them are the Humanities Washington Foundation, PT Friends of the Arts, Quimper Unitarian Fellowship, PSE Foundation, East Jefferson Rotary Club, and private donors. Northwind and the senior residences donate space and facilities in kind to support the popular program. As the program expands more donations to Northwind Arts to Elders Program are gratefully accepted.
