Learning Engagement for Older Adults: Museums in Action
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This document summarizes engagement programs for older adults at three museums. It describes the SEPIA program at the Museum of Photographic Arts which offers photography courses, art talks, and workshops to over 650 seniors annually. It has many community partnerships and surveys show the programs increase participants' interest in and understanding of photography. The document also outlines the Create+Collaborate program at LACMA which uses art making and collaboration to meet creative and social needs of older adults, with a focus on printmaking. Participants reported increased confidence, concentration, and sense of possibility from the programs. Both programs emphasize accessibility, participation, personal growth, and adaptation to audience needs through evaluation.
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Learning Engagement for Older Adults: Museums in Action
- 1. A Life of Learning: Engagement Programs for Older Adults Jennifer Arseneau, University of Alaska Museum of the North Kevin Linde, Museum of Photographic Arts Karen Satzman, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Western Museums Association, October 23, 2018
- 4. As unique as the land we celebrate. • Natural, Cultural, and Art History Museum • Established in 1929 • Alaska’s only Research and Teaching Museum • 1.5 million objects in our collections spanning 11 different scientific and cultural disciplines. • 90,000 visitors annually
- 5. Video: Discover Big Things at UAMN bit.ly/uamnvideo
- 9. The mission of the Museum of Photographic Arts is to inspire, educate and engage the broadest possible audience through the presentation, collection and preservation of film, photography and video.
- 10. SEPIA ● Serves 650 + seniors annually ● 8-12 partner sites & organizations ● 25% of programs for caregivers and those with memory loss
- 11. Focus on partnerships The program partners with older adult and senior- serving organizations throughout the year to reach new audiences. Here are a few key partnerships: City of San Diego Senior Services OASIS San Diego San Diego Public Library System Alzheimer’s Association Shiley-Marcos ADRC at UCSD The Glenner Center Remington Club Assisted Living The Front + Casa Familiar
- 12. Getting hands-on Through four key programs, SEPIA always emphasizes access, participation, personal growth and creative expression. Four-Week Photography Courses Interactive Art Talks Guided Museum Tours Creative Workshops
- 13. Adapting with the audience Through ongoing evaluation and surveying of participants, the program grows along with the changing needs of the demographic. Self-reported results from participants show on average: 94% of participants reported an increase in their interest in photography as a result of the course 94% of participants reported their ability to compose an image improved somewhat or significantly compared to before taking the course 90% of participants reported an increase in their understanding of the basics of photography 86% of participants rated SEPIA as better than other recent learning experiences
- 14. Impact on Space ● Physical comfort Impact on Education ● Educational philosophy Impact on Exhibitions ● Clarity of interpretation Impact on Community ● Greater participation
- 17. Create+Collaborate Piloted in fall 2017 Goals: Meet the creative, social and emotional needs of older adults though art making and collaboration Creative Outcomes Looking and Talking about Art as a Catalyst for Art Making Printmaking Skills: Techniques/Processes Artistic Content Development Social Outcomes Collaboration: Voicing; Step In and Step Out Supporting the Work of Others Building Ideas as a Community Reflection Emotional Outcomes Self-Worth Empathy “Sitting or being next to someone gives you ideas and how to do things, like rolling ink or carving. Everybody is very encouraging with each other.”
- 18. Why Printmaking? Emphasis on process Technical skill-building Cognitive skill-building Diversity of methods Fosters community Strength of LACMA’s collection “I learned to become more creative, more stable, more confident. More confident in printing. My concentration improved. Color mixing. How the color works and how it gives happiness to me.”
- 19. Partnerships Internal: LACMA Study Center External: St. Barnabas Senior Services (pilot year). Current: LGBT Center and Angelus Plaza (low income housing)
- 20. Evaluation Flexibility to make changes to the class format and curriculum • Interviews by instructor and staff of participants • Portfolio Review for artistic content and skill • Class observations and checklists “I learned that everything is possible. Age is unimportant. You can always learn. Now that I have time, I have time to create.”
- 21. Breakout Session Get the ball rolling! Follow the prompts on the worksheet to imagine a program or workshop you could offer at your museum. Work with your group to idea share.
- 22. Share!
- 23. Questions?
Editor's Notes
- Welcome! Introduce self and Jen and Kevin. In 2016, there were an estimated 74.1 million Baby Boomers. That’s a lot of people who are now in their late 50’s and mid 70’s. Some are life long learners, eager to engage in museum activities. Some need extra encouragement and support. In today’s panel, A Life of Learning: Engagement Programs for Older Adults you will hear from three diverse models of hands-on programming designed to engage this growing audience of older adults. How many people here are already programming for older adults? Thank you for coming! I hope you’ll share your experiences. How many are just starting to think about this audience? – welcome! Research disseminated by the National Council on Aging, indicates older adults can often experience feelings of loneliness, uselessness, and diminished self confidence, due in part to physical and cognitive changes inherent in the aging process, as well as societal perceptions that tend to disregard their contributions. Museums are in a position to meet the social, emotional, creative and intellectual needs of older adults. To help you and your museum consider programming for this audience, we will share the successes and challenges of three very different programs. We have also planned a breakout session so you can brainstorm with your peers and begin sketching out a program that makes sense for your institution. First up: Jen
- Our state can be viewed many ways. We are located in traditional Athabascan territory, in the area of Tanana speakers (or Benhti Kenaga’)
- Here at the UA Museum of the North we strive to do the difficult job of telling the Story of Alaska. The UA Museum of the North is really “As unique as the land we celebrate.” --------------------------- Notable Facts: People often ask us to categorize the museum. We are unique in that we are a Natural, Cultural, AND Art History Museum. Established in 1929. 12 years after the University of Alaska was established, and 30 years before Alaska became the 49th State of the US. The ONLY Research and Teaching Museum – What does that mean? It means that what you see exhibited is just the tip of the iceberg. On the lower level of the museum we hold over 1.5 million objects and specimens in our collections which include 11 different scientific and cultural disciplines. The museum attracts 90,000 visitors annually. Of that 90,000, 40% are Alaska Residents, and the remaining 60% are International and US visitors.
- Partnership with OLLI The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) is a program of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, led and supported by its membership, determining its own curriculum, policies, procedures, and fees. There are over 100 other “Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes” around the country, but each program is completely independent, with many different formats, fees, and ways of operating. What Osher Institutes have in common are high quality and financial support from the Bernard Osher Foundation. They recognize the generosity of benefactor Bernard Osher by using the Osher name. OLLI at UAF offers a rich array of classes and learning opportunities for adults who are 50 or older. You can explore academic and general interest classes in an atmosphere that is intellectually challenging, but without the stress of tests and grades. Members are invited from all backgrounds: a college education is not a prerequisite for membership. Members share the common bonds of intellectual curiosity and the experience of their generation. They are self-motivated learners, eager to share opinions, knowledge, and expertise with humor and mutual respect.
- Kevin
- The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an Encyclopedic museum. Over 1 million visitors a year. We are comprised of 9 different buildings in a park shared with another museum on a major street in the middle of LA. We are accessible by public transportation. As a county museum it is in our mission to serve the widest array of visitors.
- We piloted Create+Collaborate last year at this time and are now in our 2nd year. The program is funded by Aroha Philanthropies. LACMA has a long history of offering art-making classes for all ages and we have witnessed the transformative power of the creative process in fostering community and igniting passion, purpose, and curiosity. We felt that by designing a studio class for older adults with intentional creative, social and emotional goals, we could become a valuable resource for adults to build confidence, self-worth and community. We learned that a lot of art programs at senior centers are just one-off classes that do not focus on process or skills. There’s a lot cookie-cutter crafts going on. And understandably, this is not the focus for the service providers. That’s were museums can come in! Typically adult classes at LACMA meet for 5 sessions. We designed create+collaborate to be more rigorous and we knew we would need more contact time. Classes are 3 hours long and meet 10 times. The skill building component is very important as it ties in to helping students gain confidence in learning to do new things. We also wanted the students to develop a creative and reflective process. And use the collection and their life experience to develop the content for their work.
- Printmaking is an ideal art-making practice to foster camaraderie and confidence in participants. The diversity of printing methods, from monoprints to lino-cuts allow participants at all levels to experience the satisfaction of skill building, and the technical nature of these processes breeds teamwork. Working with a reverse image, positive negative space and multiple plate prints is also brain-workout. Students studied artwork in our collection to get ideas for artistic content for their own work. Through in-gallery discussions they were prompted to share their observations, personal connections, and prior knowledge. The class emphasized a reflective process where each day started with recapping from the previous day and ended with students talking about the challenges and successes they experienced and the support they either gave or received from their peers. We always forget what we have done [the day before] so the friend next to me always helps me and we talk and we remember together. (Vasantha)
- Internally we partnered with our study center: In LACMAs study center we can have prints taken out of storage for intimate viewing. External: Service Providers We could have easily filled Create+Collaborate by advertising to the general public. And I'm sure our docents would have filled the class in a hot second – but we really wanted to reach people who do not have resources to access museum programs or wouldn’t consider the museum as a place for them. We chose to partner with St. Barnabas for a few reasons. One is that they serve low-income and vulnerable older adults. One student confessed they were homeless. They have three locations in Los Angeles – but we learned that not all locations have the same resources. Their main location is a straight shot on the bus to LACMA. The activity director from that location was very supportive of the class and she even participated in the fall class. Challenges of working with a partner: the culture of that place can carry over. examples. At the senior center programs are drop-in and don’t require a commitment. Even students in our class who took it seriously, often came late or were inconsistent. Also some sites had good intentions of being good partners but in the end they didn’t have the resources to be as involved as we had anticipated. For example one site promised transportation but that fell through. With our new partners this year we established expectations of students and partners.
- Evaluation focused on Creative Outcomes, Social Outcomes, Emotional Outcomes As we were evaluating the program we were also making changes. We went from a 10 week class meeting once a week, to a 5 week class that meets twice a week to address retention issues. We allowed students to repeat the class – which was not part of the original plan but we felt we needed to in order for the students to have a more successful experience, they needed more contact time. We used more cooperative learning strategies to increase collaboration and discussion. We learned that the population we were working with wasn’t accustomed to speaking out or seeing their peers as a support system. Communication was also difficult for the students because we had so many different languages represented. In our pilot class students home languages were Hindi, Korean, Tagalog, Italian and Spanish. Last week we started year 2 of our program – and I think through the rigorous evaluation process and our flexibility to makes changes to meet the needs of the audience, we have a really solid model. I’m excited to see how what happens this year!
- Breakout: 15 minutes. Report out: 10-12 minutes. Handout worksheet We circulate and check in with small groups as they brainstorm. When time is up, we ask a few groups to report out some ideas that came from their discussion. Think of a program or workshop you could offer at your museum for older adults. (No need to reinvent the wheel: you can imagine a program similar to one presented today or you can re-imagine an existing program or workshop that you have presented at your museum for a different audience.) Why did you choose this program/workshop as a fit for an older audience? (based on today’s panel it seemed like a good one!, it highlights the strength of our collection/institution, has been popular with other audiences, can be adapted for new audiences, has a strong xxx component that based on what was learned today would be a good fit…) How is this program different from programs offered for other audiences? What considerations do you need to make for an older adult audience? (access) Who are potential partners to help you build an audience? (local university, hospital, senior living, social services) What concerns do you have? (funding, inexperience with this audience) Who can help you with these concerns?
- 10-12 minutes
- 10-12 minutes