Since its founding in 1979, Elders Share the Arts has been dedicated to fostering an understanding of the vital relationship between creative expression and healthy aging, and to developing programs that build on this understanding. Our methodology has come to be called "Living History Arts" -- a synthesis of oral history and the creative arts that engages older adults in a process of drawing on their memories and re-creating them into literary, visual, or dramatic presentations. Current Living History Arts programs are:

Storytelling, Reminiscence, and Life Review

Programs with elders that facilitate sotrytelling based on personal memories and experiences. Conducted in a wide range of sites, including senior centers, libraries, naturally occurring retirement communities, adult day health centers, and long term care facilities. Workshops generally meet once a week and can range from 4 to 30 weeks, depending on need.

Legacy works

Programs with elders that transform memories and life experiences into plays, journals, poetry, photography, and visual art, including collage, painting, and mural projects. Conducted in senior centers, libraries, community centers, and otherneighborhood sites. Workshops are presented to the community at large in "Living History Arts" Festivals held annually.

Discorveries

Traveling exhibitions of art work by little known artists, 55 years or older, both schooled and self-taught, who otherwise would have limited opportunities to display their work. Committed to reaching diverse populations and under-served communities as well as the art community, exhibitions travel to hospitals, senior centers, and alternative spaces as well as galleries and museums.

Generating Community

Intergenerational programs conducted in partnership with schools on the eementary, junior and senior high levels and neighboring senior centers. Students and elders engage in a process of exploring each other's stories and cultural backgrounds and of discovering commonalities across age and culture. Material that emerges is shaped into a range of art forms including dramatic, visual, and written pieces. Workshops generally meet once a week for 20 to 30 weeks.

Bearing Witness

Storytelling presentations by elders to a wide range of audiences, including student and community groups, that give voice to history as experienced "from the ground up." Some of these elders are members of Pearls of Wisdom, ESTA's touring ensemble of storytellers and urban folk artists.