Stagebridge Healthy Aging Programs

Stagebridge’s Healthy Aging Programs advance the concept of healthy aging with a new approach that utilizes the creative arts to improve mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health. The program helps seniors stay healthier by participating in the arts, and it employs the arts to educate healthcare professionals about older people which results in improved healthcare treatment.

Our Healthy Aging Programs are geared to reach older adults and educate the healthcare community about older adults. The programs provide seniors with creative aging opportunities and promote creative healthy aging which:

• Provides stimulation of mental activity, an exercise for the brain;
• Increases self-confidence when speaking in front of a group;
• Increases creativity and the use of the imagination;
• Encourages a more positive attitude, leading to improved physical health.

Workshops and classes are offered daily throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, with an emphasis on Oakland and East Bay communities. Training modules have been featured nationally and internationally as well.

“See Me!” Training Project

Stagebridge pioneered the Healthy Aging Program called “See Me!” to train medical professionals to see older adults as individuals with unique resources and needs. The workshops include performance, improvisation, storytelling and discussion groups. The interactive, intergenerational program has been enthusiastically received by students, administrators and health care providers throughout the world.

"See Me!" received an Honorable Mention in the 2006 Blair L. Sadler International Healing Arts Competition as "one of the most innovative integrations of arts into healthcare…improves the quality of the health care experience for patients, their families and caregivers."

In 2004, Stagebridge was selected from among 250 entries from the United States and Canada to receive a grant from the Society for Arts in Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson. This led to a partnership with Samuel Merritt College School of Nursing in Oakland California. The program is now an integral part of the nurses training curriculum. Results of evaluations from the first two years were outstanding. The workshops have positively impacted students’ attitudes, knowledge and treatment of older patients.

Staff and faculty at Stagebridge work with health care providers to create workshops that best fit their needs and to complement college and university curriculum.

The program recently premiered at the University of San Francisco School of Nursing and is being developed with San Francisco State University, College of Health and Human Services and the University of California, San Francisco.

Seniors Reaching Out (SRO)

Stagebridge’s commitment to serving the community brings performances of plays, music, singing, improvisation, acting, dance movement and storytelling workshops to thousands of seniors annually with the Seniors Reaching Out program.

Outreach classes and workshops are geared to giving less mobile seniors opportunities to learn the art of acting, storytelling, singing and dance movement. Seniors in retirement communities, convalescent hospitals, senior centers and community organizations benefit from seeing other seniors performing.

This program also connects with active independent seniors by offering a full array of classes at Stagebridge in downtown Oakland. Students range in age from 50 to 90. The average age is 70. The training reaches elders who are not necessarily experienced in the performing arts, but have had an interest for many years.

Taking programs on tour enriches of the lives of Stagebridge seniors, their families, friends and the community of seniors it serves. Senior performers have a sense of purpose, social connection, an outlet for their talent and the opportunity to share that talent with others.

Seniors Reaching Out was initiated as a pilot project in 2000. To date, the company has presented more than 300 workshops and performances for more than 10,000 people. The response of senior audiences and facility staff has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Staff and participants agree the quality of life, especially for senior adults with limited means and few resources, is greatly enhanced.

Each year the company creates an all new version of its popular variety show, “Never Too Late.” The musical variety show breaks the mold for how society views old age. The show features ten Stagebridge senior actors, singers and dancers.

Company Co-Director Linda Spector has developed “The Imagination Workshop,” a successful method of building the creative skills of older adults who live in nursing and retirement homes. Her techniques stimulate mind, memory and motion. She has refined this technique over many years and taught it to many activity directors and teachers.

With the beginning of the 21 st Century, where one out of every four people will be over 65, creative aging will become a way of life. Health concerns are an enormous issue for everyone, particularly seniors, their families and the healthcare industry. Stagebridge is one of a very few organizations addressing healthy aging that has a demonstrated track record in community-based healthy aging programs. Through these creative programs Stagebridge takes the lead in helping seniors stay healthy longer by actively participating in the arts.