Lifetime Arts: Delivering Arts Education Programs for Today’s Older Adults

Increasingly important as community centers for learning and cultural access, libraries are struggling to respond to the changing needs of today’s older adult library patrons. One of the biggest related questions facing library system directors, branch managers, and programming librarians is what kind of programs can libraries provide that offer meaningful engagement for older adults—and how can libraries implement and pay for programs with limited staff and shrinking budgets? Through the development of their award-winning program, the Creative Aging Libraries Project, Lifetime Arts has cracked the code to this conundrum, already having partnered with 125+ libraries and assisted and trained 250 librarians to work with professional teaching artists and engaging thousands of older adults in nearly 1,000 visual, performing, and literary arts classes. This innovative program model is demonstrating how public libraries can fulfill their potential as community centers for positive and creative aging.