October 2023 eNews: Behind Recent Evolutions

Group photograph of Arts for the Aging team, including staff and board of trustees. There are ten individuals standing together against a gray wall.

In this issue, we celebrate Arts for the Aging's recent organizational, community, and programmatic growth. Click here to read the full eNewsletter issue and become acquainted with new Arts for the Aging board officers, trustees, and staff.

 


Photograph: Late summer field trip to the Glenstone Museum

L-r: Sarah House, Jackie Vinick, Kiley Clements, Peggi McGovern, Ariel Green, Mercedes Blankenship, Kayla Conklin, Janine Tursini, and board members Catherine H.K. Bell and Judith Bauer


Feature on Aging Matters TV Show


Aging Matters is a television show produced by Arlington Independent Media. Recently, Janine Tursini, Director and CEO of Arts for the Aging, sat down with host Cheryl Beversdorf to talk more about the healing power of the arts and the programs offered by Arts for the Aging to enhance older adults’ wellness and quality of life.

Watch the episode here, or click the image below, as they discuss Arts for the Aging’s mission, our virtual and in-person programming, and our teaching artist training.

Aging Matters TV Show broadcasts Sundays at 5:30pm and Wednesdays at 6pm on Comcast Channel 69 or Verizon Channel 38 in Arlington Virginia. It is also on the radio on Tuesdays and Fridays at 2:00pm on WERA Arlington 96.7FM. Visit agingmattersonline.com to access all TV episodes and radio programs.


Photo credit: agingmattersonline.com/tv-show


Meet Our 2022-23 Fellow: Lenique Huggins


Hi, my name is Lenique Huggins. I’m a Communications Fellow with Arts for the Aging. My main project over this next year is managing and expanding Arts for the Aging’s social media reach. I developed a vision for this work having spent the previous year here as a programming and communications intern. I’ve had my hand in a wide range of projects like helping develop a research and arts demonstration video series for pain management in collaboration with the the University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville and Lesley University in Cambridge, MA; supporting Arts for the Aging’s efforts in diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging; producing social media and website content; and providing technical support for programs. I grew up in a Caribbean household close to art and culture from all over the world. I’ve always been surrounded by music, dance, storytelling, and visual art, and my family hosted international students throughout my childhood. I started playing the piano at age 3, and have been singing, dancing, and doodling for as long as I can remember. My mom jokes that when I was younger, she always knew when I was upset, because she would hear me practicing piano voluntarily. Despite my early exposure to art, it wasn’t until my undergraduate experience at Duke University and through community service during that time that I began to understand the therapeutic value of art. I led art programs at a family shelter and taught K-10 art in a rural community. I saw how encouraging self-expression could bring peace during uncertain times, reduce stress, and empower communities. When I went through a rough time in my sophomore year, I found myself using painting for a lot of healing. After attending a conference where I saw how art was being used to improve outcomes of people with cognitive decline like dementia and Alzheimer’s, I was inspired to look for similar work in my gap year before attending medical school. I found the organization searching the web for organizations at the intersection of arts and health, I loved what I saw when I found artsfortheaging.org, and I’m so glad I reached out with my resume and forged this path with them! I love that Arts for the Aging is multidisciplinary because I’m active in a range of art disciplines – music, dance, singing, and drawing are what I practice most. I also love that Arts for the Aging places value on improvisation’s core tenet of “yes, and”. It encourages me to be open to new things and big ideas. It reminds me that it’s great to be different and not fit into one mold. Interacting with older adult and caregiver participants in Arts for the Aging programs has reinforced the understanding that everyone has navigated life up differently up until the point that they met you, and this influences how people respond to one another. Sometimes we see participants on their good days, sometimes they’re having a bad day. Now I’m at Yale for medical school even as I engage in this fellowship with Arts for the Aging. In medicine too, I’ll interact with people on their good days, bad days, and worst days – it takes empathy, understanding, and meeting people where they are to provide good care. There are people who have been going to the doctor regularly all their life, there are people who haven’t had access or distrust the healthcare system and only come in for emergencies. No one is the same and it’s important for me to be attentive to that in all of my interactions. I plan to take the arts into my future medical career, to continue to be active at the intersection of arts and health. I want to push for arts programs intertwined with health interventions in communities that lack access to these resources. And I will continue practicing art. It’s a self-care practice that helps me combat burnout and show up better for patients who need me.


Yale School of Medicine White Coat Ceremony | August 8th, 2022. Pictured: Lenique Huggins (right) and Dean Nancy J. Brown, MD, Dean of Yale School of Medicine (left). Photography by Robert Lisak.


Annual Report 2021: Rebirth


Dear Friends,

As you settle into the summer with family, friends, and loved ones, we want to tell you about some milestones in bringing the dazzling beauty and therapeutic power of artful, joyous connection to more corners of older adult and caregiver communities. Our impact is evident. Pandemic connection, expanded workshop types, partnership, workforce development, cultural equity, capacity building, and recognition have lit the way.

We are pleased to share with you our 2021 annual report, Rebirth, as we celebrate all the ways that community support continues to inspire, uplift, and connect us all. Read the full newsletter here.


Photo by Stephanie Williams Images