THE PATH TO A FESTIVAL

It was seven years ago that I wrote on creativity and aging and my desire for Winston-Salem to hold an arts festival for people in the older age group. I had met the gero-psychiatrist Dr. Gene Cohen when he was in North Carolina and learned about his research on the many ways creativity enhances older persons’ lives. At a national conference on aging, I learned some cities, smaller than W.S. had begun programming for this age group. So why couldn’t Winston-Salem, ” the city of the arts and innovation” put on a festival celebrating our senior artists? Where should I start to promote this idea? I wanted a steering committee and was able to get a meeting with one of our most respected artists, Earline heath King. Unfortunately, I was not able to convince her to buy into the idea. Next, I had the occasion to meet Phil Hanes, a community mover and shaker. It was a social occasion and I felt emboldened to approach him after reading his book How to Get Anyone to do Anything. Unfortunately, the conversation did not progress very far as he wanted to know how I was defining “old”. He showed no interest in being involved in such an endeavor and said that such an effort would require an outside consultant. Second strike-out. I continued to float the idea at various aging service meetings; the director of community out -reach at UNCSA heard me and I was hopeful. Nothing came of it.

Then in the fall of 2011, Trudy Adkins, editor of the Triad Retirement Resource Guide who attends many of the meetings on aging and had heard me talk about the subject, did a feature on senior artists in the triad. She noted that I was interested in a senior arts festival and asked people to get in contact with me, if interested in working on such. Susan Surman, author contacted me and together with three other artists, Carol Roan, author, Dahlia Dean , author and Glad Roy, painter began to meet at the Community Arts Cafe. This group named the festival “Second Spring.” I invited other persons and the group grew in number. We had a phone conference with Dr.Gay Hanna of the National Center for Creative Aging about how to proceed and funding. We knew we needed to involve the Arts Council. By chance I was at a social occasion where I met Milton Rhodes who agreed to talk with me. He was open to exploring the concept and invited us to meet at the Arts Council. He has continued to be very supportive.

We formed a non-profit organization, set our mission and goals, elected a board of directors, began raising funds, and contacting artists to participate. It is for artists 60 and above who live in Forsyth County. The organization’s first event is the Festival set for May 14,15,16,17, 2013. The first day will set the foundation for creativity and aging. Our keynote speaker is Susan Perlstein, who founded the National Center for Creative Aging. We will have local participants to serve on a panel to discuss the impact of the arts on health and wellness and on the economy. We will have examples of best practices for programming on aging. We will have various artists to give a testimony on what the arts mean to them. The second day will be devoted to literary arts, the third to visuals and the last to music and dance. We will have some artists demonstrating their craft at the Sawtooth School. Some of the individuals and groups who have committed to perform are: the Snappy Tappers, New Horizons Band, Kathy Fitzgerald, author of DIVAS,DAMES, AND DOLLS, Ann Guill and Mona Wu. Linda Weaver has agreed to do the official painting for the festival. It will be raffled off with proceeds going to the cost of the Festival. Each person attending will receive a directory of arts opportunities offered by individuals and classes. The directory will also be available online.
For more information go to www.arts60plus.org or 336-473-0305, or Second Spring Arts, Inc. Box 24306. Winston-Salem, N.C. 27114

Article By Nancy M. Hall