30th Anniversary Gala: Celebrating Pioneering Creative Aging
On October 15 AFTA celebrated its pearl anniversary with a gala and awards dinner at Top of the Hay, the crown atop the historic Hay-Adams hotel in Washington, DC, featuring a special program showcasing AFTA’s gifted professional artists. It was a beautiful evening recognizing luminaries in philanthropy, humanitarianism and thought leadership in health, aging and the arts. 30th Anniversary Gala Awardees were Teresa Heinz, Chair Emeritus of The Heinz Family Philanthropies who was recognized with the Lolo Sarnoff Founder's Award for Humanitarianism and Philanthropy; and Dr. Jehan El-Bayoumi, Professor of Medicine, George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates and Founding Director of the Rodham Institute of GWU School of Medicine and Health Sciences. View the Gala program here. View photographs from the evening here
Motivations and Innovations
The Catalogue for Philanthropy of Greater Washington invited our Director and CEO to share what inspires her work with Arts for the Aging. You can read more about that here. And, congratulations to CFP founder Barbara Harman for being named Washingtonian of the Year for 2016!
Website Debut of New AFTA Video
You're invited into the compelling world of Arts for the Aging, a place where AFTA's gifted and sensitive Teaching Artists facilitate all manner of arts programming for older adults, many of whom face memory and physical challenges, but whose lives are enriched by artistic self-expression and participation in the creative process.
https://vimeo.com/171624442
This video was made possible through a generous grant from The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, and with support -- and gorgeous production -- from Castle Gate Media.
Our Story in the New York Times
In the March 8, 2016 Science section of The New York Times, Personal Health columnist Jane E. Brody talks about the importance of arts participation and its link to better health, including the work of Arts for the Aging. Ms. Brody describes that “Music, dance, poetry and painting are pumping new life into older bodies and minds,” capturing the essence of key programs and happenings in the national field of creative aging, and quoting our CEO Janine Tursini about the impact, “The arts open people up, giving them new vehicles for self-expression, a chance to tell their stories…The programs capitalize on assets that remain, not on what’s been lost.” What a thrill!
You can read the full article here, http://nyti.ms/1LLwetX, or view the print version here. And please, consider making a gift to AFTA so that we can continue to bring free arts workshops to older adults in the D.C. region — to those who raised and nurtured us, taught and mentored us, and paved the way and blazed trails before us. Donate today.
