Western Australian retirement village operator, Amana Living, has launched the state’s first ever arts festival created specifically for seniors, running from Monday the 12th of February to Sunday the 25th of March.
The festival has a variety of artistic activities in its program, including everything from Wu Tao dance classes, harp solo concerts, creative writing workshops, hands-on workshops, and chamber orchestra performances.
Stephanie Buckland, CEO of Amana Living, said the Festival builds on Amana Living’s commitment to delivering art programmes for its residents and clients, and was inspired by creative ageing festivals such as Luminate in Scotland, and Meander Valley Festival of Creative Ageing in Tasmania.
“Our emphasis is on helping people to truly live the second half of life and arts have a wonderful role to play in helping older people to have fun, try different things, and meet new people.
Research in the field has shown that engaging with the arts is also incredibly therapeutic, with health and wellbeing benefits range from combating loneliness and isolation, through to alleviating depression, and improving communication and relationships.
Amana Living was one of the first village operators to recognise the benefits of artistic engagement, and have a long history of offering experiences to residents. Through the years, the operator has specialised in providing a range of activities like regular craft classes at care centres, personalised music therapy, and Project Picasso - an art exhibition by people living with dementia.
“To our knowledge, there has never been an arts event of this size or scale created for older people in WA. We’re proud to be pioneering an event that we hope will become a regular feature in the State’s arts calendar,” said Ms Buckland.
Over the six weeks of running the festival will deliver more than 150 events for older people from Perth Australind, and Kalgoorlie, at over 50 locations including Amana Living sites, community centres and iconic venues such as the State Theatre Centre of WA, Art Gallery of WA and WA Maritime Museum.
