NYC urges cultural institutions to offer more age-inclusive programming for seniors

New York City officials have released a new guidebook on “creative aging” that underscores the growing need for arts programming for older adults and offers a blueprint for cultural institutions to become more age-inclusive.

The Cabinet for Older New Yorkers, a multi-agency initiative established by Mayor Eric Adams to make the city more age-inclusive, developed the guidebook in conversation with 13 city-supported nonprofits that provide significant arts programming for seniors.

The Cabinet for Older New Yorkers, a multi-agency initiative established by Mayor Eric Adams to make the city more age-inclusive, developed the 38-page guidebook in collaboration with 13 city-supported nonprofits that provide arts programming for seniors.

The Cabinet, co-chaired by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and NYC Department for the Aging, was launched in 2022 to embed age inclusivity across city policy, from the arts to housing and healthcare.

“Access to arts and culture should be a birthright,” said Cultural Affairs commissioner Laurie Cumbo in her letter introducing the guide. “Ensuring cultural access isn’t just a ‘nice to have.’ It’s something New Yorkers deserve to lead enriching, healthy lives.”

City officials said the guidebook is needed to serve the growing number of residents over the age of 60. Currently, 1.8 million New Yorkers are aged 60 and older, a population size that would rank as the fifth largest city in the United States. The report notes that older adults have now surpassed the number of school-aged children living in the city, a demographic shift driven by the last of the baby boomers reaching 60 by early 2025.

Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, the commissioner of NYC’s Department for the Aging, said in a letter attached to the document that it “serves as a call to action for cultural institutions to advance age-inclusive programming and ensure older adults are central to their missions.”

The guidebook comes after a 2020 report from the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging, which found that older adults reported “feeling rejuvenated, reclaiming long-buried artistic dreams, or reinventing themselves” and valued the social connections they gained.

It also cited scientific studies that have found that older adults who joined participatory art programs had fewer doctor visits or instances of falls and took less medication than those who did not join such programs.

New research presented in the guidebook found that organizations are usually inspired to prioritize creative aging after first developing a small-scope pilot program.

One example is the Mark Morris Dance Group, which launched its acclaimed Dance for Parkinson’s Disease program to help adults maintain confidence and mobility through movement. After its success, the organization expanded to create the Movement for Healthy Aging program to serve a broader audience of older adults.

The researchers found that successful programs begin by developing the right infrastructure from the start—recruiting professional artists trained in age-inclusive teaching, fostering partnerships with health and community organizations, and maintaining feedback loops with participants.

The guidebook pointed to Vocal Ease, a volunteer singing organization that provides live entertainment across the city for people in senior care centers and residences, which recruited for its volunteer performers from Backstage and Playbill—websites that cater to actors and performers looking for work.

Specifically, Vocal Ease targeted performers with experience singing popular songs from earlier eras and in other languages to engage diverse older audiences.

Meanwhile, the Staten Island performing arts company Sundog Theatre meets with the director of each the senior centers they work with when planning their programming to tailor it to the particular needs and interests of participants.

And the Queens Museum has dedicated a specific space for seniors “as an investment in the future of the organization,” the guidebook said. The Queens Museum was also praised for coordinating regularly scheduled group transportation from nearby senior care centers for its Vitality Arts workshop series.

The Bronx Documentary Center had a similar initiative, working with an aging services provider to offer subsidized taxi and car service so participants could attend its on-site photography classes.

The guidebook also cites intergenerational and specialized programs, such as the Teachers & Writers Collaborative pairing youth and older adults for shared storytelling, and ¡Oye! Group’s Healing Rooms, which host bilingual therapeutic art workshops for seniors with dementia.

“Programs for older adults are often positioned as recreational when they could be transformational,” said John-Morgan Bush, dean of Juilliard Extension, who contributed to the report. “By designing programs that are rigorous, joyful and inclusive, we honor the creative spirit at every stage of life.”

The report’s authors argue that creative aging initiatives also combat ageism, a persistent form of discrimination that limits visibility and resources for older adults despite their size and civic presence.

“Creative aging should be at the forefront of our age-inclusive priorities in every community,” the guide concludes. “We invite all groups to examine their work through an anti-ageism lens—and to partner with us on fostering a healthier, happier, and more vibrant age-inclusive New York City.”

The report follows other citywide inclusion efforts, including the Clemente Center’s new digital archive to protect Latino stories from erasure.