The art of aging: Creative arts education in aged care homes, hospitals and senior accommodation developed in an Australian university

These include creative arts programs within Aged care homes, large hospitals and programs of university creative arts projects with seniors in Brisbane, Australia. The programs and studies drew on understandings of Bourdieu’s notions of economic, social and cultural capital. The ethnographic studies drew on the experiences of people. They demonstrated that the creative arts can change lives and promote social inclusion. The programs used education in creative arts, delivered in community settings, to engage with aged people who are often marginalised. The studies found that participants gained new understandings of the creative arts, art institutions, social interactions, relationships, creative arts practice, community participation and futures. The studies also found that creative arts education was a powerful way for individuals and groups of people to make meanings through engagement with art practice and frame their interpretive personal and social experience.