"Creative Ageing" is a strategic partnership project about developing innovative strategies through cultural education to reach senior citizens who have difficulties to find access to and participate in social and cultural life due to low skills, health or financial reasons, and to engage them in non-formal, participative and inclusive projects of cultural education. The project will run from September 2019 to November 2021 and involves the cultural departments of 6 city administrations from 5 different European countries: Munich (DE) as applicant and coordinator, Leeuwarden (NL), Ostend (BE), Brighton & Hove (UK), Gothenburg (SE) and Berlin (DE) as partners. Life expectancy is increasing and while many senior citizens enjoy their life after work, there is also a growing number of elderly people who are at risk of social exclusion. Increase in old-age poverty, less mobility due to age-related disabilities, life in isolation and no link to today’s digital world make those senior citizens more vulnerable and prevent them from access to social and cultural participation. This trend widens the disparities in society. “Creative Ageing” wants to respond to this societal challenge with the help of cultural education. While the positive impact of cultural education in the work with young people has been established, this knowledge needs now to be transferred to the target group of disadvantaged senior citizens. Participative cultural projects are to engage senior citizens actively and self-determined so that they become motivated to develop key competences such as relearning how to connect to other people. Cultural education includes lifelong-learning processes and can help to maintain and increase social networks, reduce loneliness and delay the onset of cognitive and health disorders. The partners want to learn from each other by sharing and reviewing good practices in their cities to develop new strategies on how to create sustainable structures and settings in European cities, which will allow for high-quality, customized offers to disadvantaged senior citizens and for overcoming the multiple access barriers. New practical ideas are to be brought back from the partners and be incorporated into the local strategies of how to reach the target group more effectively, how to work more inclusively with elderly people and how to involve them in social life. The project is meant to provide extra impetus and as a catalyst to push forward a new way of working in each city. To do that the partners will set up a cross-sectoral project team with staff from the municipal departments of culture, education, social services and health, but also from the local networks of cultural practitioners, NGOs, initiatives and carers – an innovative approach. Out of this community, 4 to 5 participants per partner (28 in total) will be selected to attend the 5 transnational meetings where the exchange and peer learning will take place. Each partner will organise and host one meeting with a focus on their expertise. These meetings after the kick-off will consist of on-site visits, presentations, discussions and evaluation. A survey among European cities will run in parallel and provide further insights. The final meeting will end in a public symposium in Munich and the results will presented in a best practice document. The participants will ensure that the gained knowledge is brought back to their cities and the local professional community is involved. In parallel, each partner will conduct local project activities. The project teams play a major role, as they will not only provide thematic input, but also influence the design of local strategies and inspire the local networks to develop participative cultural educational projects targeting senior citizens at risk of social exclusion. The project activities will result in a collection of good practices and their transferability to other European cities. The collaboration between the municipal levels and the local stakeholders will ensure that solutions are provided on a strategic (necessary funding and structure) and an operational level (customized participative projects). Cultural education will be increasingly recognized as a facilitator for social inclusion, also for target groups other than young people. All partners together will disseminate the project results and the collaboration with the network Eurocities with 152 major cities from around Europe will see to a wide coverage. Regarding the target group of senior citizens, the result of the project will be a visible increase in tailor-made cultural offers. In the long run, the partners remain connected via Eurocities where all partners are members. It will provide the platform to continue exchanging ideas on creative ageing and on developing joint projects. At local level, “Creative Ageing” will flow into the partners’ cultural educational projects for senior citizens, in particular those who are at risk of social exclusion.
We wanted to develop new strategies of how cities create structures in which sustainable, high-quality offers for these elderly people can grow, and how the multiple access barriers can be overcome. We aimed to share and confront good practices, bring new ideas from other European countries back and incorporate them to the local projects and processes. We were also keen to share methodological competences on how to work more inclusively with elderly people and how to tailor projects to the needs of elderly people. We strived to gain wider recognition of the positive impact of cultural education among the general public, politicians and professional community. We wanted to strengthen the local networks and to establish a network of European cities on creative ageing.
Cultural participation is an indispensable part of general education and lifelong learning. It contributes to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and has a positive impact on health, wellbeing, and quality of life - as shown by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in over 3,000 evidence-based studies. By 2050, the proportion of people aged 65+ in Europe is expected to rise to about 30%. The risk of old-age poverty is increasing, as are age-related health problems, social disadvantage is becoming more apparent, loneliness is just as possible. It is therefore no surprise, that, in view of this demographic change, creative ageing - cultural education and participation - is increasingly being discovered for elderly population groups throughout Europe. Not only in culture and education, but also in the fields of leisure, health and care. The strategic partnership Creative Ageing – Cultural Engagement Instead of Social Isolation addressed the issue of cultural participation opportunities for elderly citizens. In particular, it focused on those who struggle with health or finance, who live in isolation, or who have had only limited access to cultural activities in their lives so far.