A timely ‘oldie’ idea perfect to extend years of productivity beyond retirement
Imagine these scenes.
- Retirees in their 60s and older learning new techniques in creative conceptualization and idea making.
- Old artists serving as mentors sharing with their fellow seniors the joy and wonder of watercolor painting, showing the way to give release to their innate knack for visual creations.
- Grand dads and moms pointing and clicking their smart phone-cameras to capture scenes from nature and everyday life, getting the hang of digital photography beyond the selfie.
- Oldies trying their hand in storytelling to tell the world their unique personal stories through journal writing, poetry, digital filmmaking and spoken monologue.
- Senior people acting out scenes from the world’s most acclaimed plays and films, learning how to get into the inner persona of characters.
They are your average old folks participating in art workshops designed for them, singing, dancing, playing creative games, bonding, and having the time of their lives.
It’s not happening yet but it’s what I envision will happen as soon as someone picks up this idea and runs with it.
Compare these scenes with what is happening in reality. Too many seniors being set aside, marginalized, and taken for granted after retirement by our youth-obsessed society.
‘There’s many a good tune played on an old fiddle.’
While seniors appreciate medical missions that give out free eyeglasses or provide free flu vaccinations, they also need something to uplift the spirit. Making them dependents on “ayuda” and pensions serve to cripple their innate creative spirit in their golden years.
Peter Laslett, the British historian, describes life after 60 as “The Third Age,” a period of life characterized by health, vigor, activity, and a positive mindset.
Seen through the lens of the Third Age, retirement is an occasion for self-actualization, for doing those things that have the most personal meaning, that keep people challenged and actively learning and continuously contributing to the progress of the city.
To me the best way to do this is through education and participation in the arts.
As a senior citizen myself and former head of government agencies actively involved in the arts, I propose a nationwide program called “Arts Education for Creative Aging.”
Briefly, it’s a Community Outreach Program that aims to foster the health and mental wellbeing of Filipinos ages 60 to 80 by way of a professionally conducted, participatory, and financially sustained arts education program specifically designed for senior citizens to be conducted all over the country.
The program seeks to encourage senior citizens of each community to leave their homes and participate in art learning workshops suited to their aptitude and talent and join their fellow seniors in dance, music, acting, writing, and visual arts activities of their own choosing.
There is a valuable resource of older artists who can be tapped to serve as teachers or mentors in these art classes.
Research shows that professionally-led arts education for older adults fosters positive aging because it promotes physical health, enhances a sense of wellbeing among older adults, improves quality of life for those who are ill, and reduces the risk factors that lead to the need for long-term care.
Expressive arts, including visual arts, music, dance and movement, writing, and acting in a play have been seen as effective empowering tools that can assist in the aging process.
These workshops can be done exclusively for seniors or may be open to intergenerational mixing young and old. Can you just imagine it—lolo and lola doing water color painting together with their grandkids?
The cynics will scoff at it and say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. All I can say, we’re not out to teach them “new tricks” but to awaken the dormant creativity that’s in every human being. Remember the old English proverb: “There’s many a good tune played on an old fiddle.”
This proposition is very doable. I have done it for teachers in workshops in various cities and communities to infuse the techniques of theater to invigorate classroom teaching. I have a pool of Plein Air artists willing to give lessons on call. I can arrange the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra to give music appreciation classes as well as basic instrumental playing, such as the violin or trumpet. I can bring in mentors from abroad and art education exponents from other countries as guest resource persons.
I am inviting corporations and organizations from the private sector to consider it seriously. It will be a good CSR program to champion because it will have a meaningful social impact and will earn a lot of goodwill for their organizations.
Progressive and enlightened LGU leaders will earn the lifelong gratitude of the growing army of senior constituents and their families by implementing the program in their local communities. Imagine them coming home brimming with excitement to share their newfound skills with their grandchildren?
Surely my friends in the Senate and House of Representatives can allocate some funding for this program.
There’s no getting around the fact that we all age. The good news is that aging creatively—through the arts—holds the promise of being active and enjoying the bonus years that increased life expectancy has gifted us.
Now the idea is there on the table. Any takers?
Time is ticking by. Seniors can’t afford to wait too long.
Contact me at 0917-815-2549 or email me at [email protected].
Former chairman of National Commission for Culture and the Arts