Recent Events
On June 28 ESTA officially welcomed new board members: Alexander Hakopian,Esq., Pene McCourty, and Karen Strauss.
On March 1, 2010 ESTA welcomed Jennie Smith-Peers as their new Executive Director.
Third Annual Bel Kaufman Flamekeeper Award Benefit, 2009
On June 18, 2009, ESTA hosted its third annual Bel Kaufman Flamekeeper Award Benefit at the Lotos Club in Manhattan. In 2007, ESTA proudly instituted the Bel Kaufman Flamekeeper Award: remembering the past to inspire the future in the name of its first recipient, novelist and humorist Bel Kaufman, for her carrying on the tradition of storytelling begun by her grandfather, the writer and humorist Sholom Aleichem. The award is given annually to an individual who creatively forwards the legacies of generations past, forging connections that otherwise may be lost. Integral to the award’s presentation is a conversational interview with the recipient. This year’s recipient was legendary jazz bassist, Ron Carter, who was interviewed by Sara Fishko.
Additionally, ESTA instituted the Meritorious Service Award, an award that will be presented annually to an individual whose dedicated work to the field of aging has contributed significantly to enhancing the quality of life of elders in New York City and has inspired the commitment of others to gerontological study and service. Whereas the Flamekeeper Award celebrates artistic legacy, this new award champions the vital legacy of community service. This year’s award was given to scholar, researcher, leader, and teacher, Dr. Marjorie H. Cantor.
Generating Community Culminations, Spring 2009
On June 1, 2009, students from Queens High School of Teaching and elder World War II veterans from the Samuel Field Y’s three NORC SSP’s (Deepdale CARES, Clearview Assistance Program, and NORC WOW) partnered with ESTA to host the culmination event, History is Our Story.
On May 12 and 14, 2009, students from P.S. 24 in Queens and elders from Selfhelp Benjamin Rosenthal Senior Center partnered with ESTA to host the culmination performance, For the Times they are a Changing.
On May 21, 2009, students from Millennium Art Academy in the Bronx joined with community elders in partnership with ESTA to perform the culminating show, Boy, How Things Have Changed, presented at United Odd Fellow Rebkah Home in the Bronx.
Public Colloquium: Vital Aging in a Vital City, 2009
On February 5, 2009, ESTA held a public colloquium entitled Vital Aging in a Vital City at Saint Peter’s Church in Manhattan. The Colloquium engaged public officials; arts, health, social work professionals, and New Yorkers of all ages in conversation on how to make the City that never sleeps a good place to grow old.
Part I of the Colloquium kicked off with a panel discussion on “Realizing the Creative Potential of Older New Yorkers.” Panelists included: Ed Bartosik, Director, Council Senior Center; William J. Dionne, Executive Director, The Carter Burden Center for the Aging; Cheryl Kamen, Director of Adult Services, Hudson Guild; Diantha Dow Schull, Former President, Libraries for the Future; and Russell Watson, Expanding the Walls Coordinator, The Studio Museum in Harlem. The panel was moderated by Marjorie H. Cantor, Professor and Brookdale Distinguished Scholar (retired), Fordham University.
Part II of the Colloquium featured an interview with Dr. Gene Cohen, Director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University and author of the book, The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life. Interviewing Dr. Cohen was gerontologist and media host/producer, Bernard Starr. Following the interview was a panel discussion on “Building a Vibrant New York for All Ages.” Panelists included: Kate D. Levin, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Department for the Aging, Caryn Resnick; Jo Ivey Boufford, President of the New York Academy of Medicine; Rebecca McGinnis, Museum Educator/Access Coordinator, Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Victor G. Rodwin, Director of the World Cities Project at the International Center for Longevity. The panel was moderated by Bich Ha Pham, Director of Policy, Advocacy, and Research for the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies.
In tandem with the Colloquium was an opening reception for the six-week exhibition of A Long Way Home: Elder Artists in the Neighborhoods of New York.
ESTA Presents: Talkin’ Brooklyn: Stories from Brooklyn’s Elders, 2009
On March 11, 2009, at the Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture in Brooklyn, ESTA held a Readers Theater performance of Talkin’ Brooklyn: Stories from Brooklyn’s Elders, a culminating presentation of the Story Circle program. Drawing on 60 Story Circles convened over the course of six years in branches of the Brooklyn Public Library paired with neighboring senior centers, the performance re-created the feeling of a neighborhood stoop from which all could be seen, dreamed, and mused about.
A Long Way Home: Elder Artists in the Neighborhoods of New York, 2008
On the evening of November 18, 2008, ESTA held an opening reception for A Long Way Home: Elder Artists in the Neighborhoods of New York at the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan. The exhibition featured work created by older New Yorkers who credit their local senior centers for their initial involvement in the visual arts. A Long Way Home culminated a Manhattan-based arts project conducted by ESTA over two years, in twenty senior centers, in diverse neighborhoods spanning the borough’s twelve community districts. The project invited older adults to explore visually their interior and exterior “geographies,” inspired by the theme, “a long way home.” The works created vividly and authentically express stories of place, culture, and identity. Mediums include painting, drawing, and collage.
Second Annual Bel Kaufman Flamekeeper Award Benefit, 2008
On May 8, 2008, ESTA hosted its second annual Bel Kaufman Flamekeeper Award Benefit at the Lotos Club in Manhattan. In 2007, ESTA proudly instituted the Bel Kaufman Flamekeeper Award: remembering the past to inspire the future in the name of its first recipient, novelist and humorist Bel Kaufman, for her carrying on the tradition of storytelling begun by her grandfather, the writer and humorist Sholom Aleichem. The award is given annually to an individual who creatively forwards the legacies of generations past, forging connections that otherwise may be lost. Integral to the award’s presentation is a conversational interview with the recipient. The 2008 recipient was Eli Wallach, iconic Method actor and veteran of stage and screen, who was interviewed by Roma Torre.