WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 3, 2023) — Encore Creativity for Older Adults announced the formation of new partnerships at its Annual Celebration Dinner on October 22, 2023. The arts nonprofit, the nation’s largest choral arts organization for adults 55 and older, will begin new programs in partnership with the Chautauqua Institution in New York and the Hayes Wellness Center in Washington DC.
“We are incredibly grateful and honored to partner with these esteemed institutions,” said Joshua Vickery, Chief Executive Officer of Encore Creativity for Older Adults. “Expanding our programs in partnership with the Chautauqua Institution and Hayes Wellness Center is a part of our commitment to creating meaningful arts experiences for all older adults. We have set goals for the future that includes thoughtful expansion with an eye towards diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the arts, and expanding our partnerships is one way to ensure those goals are met.”
The first new Encore Creativity program, in partnership with the Hayes Wellness Center and funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, will begin in January. The program at the Center, a part of Howard University, will bring a new non-auditioned ensemble to adults in the community and rehearse for 90 minutes each week, culminating in a public performance opportunity at the end of the semester.
The Chautauqua Institution, which is dedicated to exploring the best of human values and appreciation of life through creativity, hosts Encore Creativity’s annual summer choral institute program, which draws Encore singers across the nation to improve their vocal technique and hone their singing skills. This spring, the new Encore Chorale of Chautauqua will open its non-auditioned programs and rehearsals to all older adults. “This is a way of taking the summer program and expanding it to a year-round program with a fifteen-week course in singing,” said Deborah Sunya Moore, Senior Vice President and Chief Program Officer of Chautauqua Institution. “Next summer, we have a very exciting week on the transformational power of music. Encore Creativity will be offering a class in choral singing, and we hope they will also be working with us on creative aging and ideas for having a wonderful life through song.”
Encore Creativity, now in its 17th year, has a mission to create meaningful arts experiences supporting lifelong learning, wellness, and fun for all older adults. The organization was founded after the results of an NIH and NEA-funded study that proved the health benefits of choral singing for older adults, particularly in areas of social connection, cognition, and brain health. Older adults who participated in the study reported higher levels of happiness and social connection. Encore Creativity seeks to create a world where all older adults have a place in the arts.
“We are excited for what the future brings at Encore Creativity for Older Adults,” said Vickery. “We look forward to improving the social, mental, and physical health for all older adults in our new communities with the new Encore Chorale of Chautauqua and Encore Chorale of the Hayes Wellness Center.”
About Encore Creativity for Older Adults
Founded in 2007 by Jeanne Kelly during a National Institutes of Health-funded study to address the mental and physical health benefits of singing for older adults, Encore Creativity for Older Adults now hosts chorales nationwide, plus its annual summer camps, winter retreat, and travel abroad programs. Encore’s mission is to create meaningful arts experiences supporting lifelong learning, wellness, and fun for all older adults. Encore’s programs, offered in-person and online, include its Chorale ensembles, ROCKS rock ‘n’ roll ensembles, and its Arts for Life programs for those with cognitive change and their care partners. Across all its programs, Encore now has more than 1,500 singers and 40 ensembles throughout the country, from the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan region to Santa Clarita, California. Encore seeks to create a world where all older adults have a place in the arts.