Is Creative Aging the Cutting Edge of Community Arts?

In this episode international arts and aging leader Dominic Campbell will share his thoughts about some intriguing questions: Can an active creative culture change the scary stories we tell ourselves about getting older? Can large scale festivals help communities find common ground in their work with older citizens? What is creative aging and why is it being embraced by gerontologists, and brain scientists across the planet?

Dominic Campbell is the originator and co-leader of Creative Aging International. As Ireland's Bealtaine Festival’s Director he steered the festivals growth and expansion over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration, St Patrick’s Festival, he transformed its three shows into ninety within four years growing production and managerial teams alongside the financial support required.

Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” marking EU expansion, he devised and produced 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2,500 artists from 32 countries.

He mentored festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and has developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins.

In 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University College Southern California an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia.

Recognized by The Irish Times as one of the top ten key cultural influencers in Ireland he seeks strategic and business partners to develop Creative Aging International.

Global Brain Health Institute: The Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) is dedicated to protecting the world’s aging populations from threats to brain health. “We strive to improve brain health for populations across the world, reaching into local communities and across our global network. GBHI brings together a powerful mix of disciplines, professions, backgrounds, skills, perspectives, and approaches to develop new science-based solutions. “

The Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health: The Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health program at GBHI provides innovative training, networking, and support to emerging leaders focused on improving brain health and reducing the impact of dementia in their local communities and on a global scale. It is one of seven global Atlantic Fellows programs to advance fairer, healthier, and more inclusive societies.

Chuck Feeney is an American businessman and philanthropist who made his fortune as a co-founder of the Hong Kong based Duty Free Shoppers Group. He is the founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies, one of the largest private charitable foundations in the world. Feeney gave away his fortune in secret for many years, until a business dispute...

In this episode international arts and aging leader Dominic Campbell will share his thoughts about some intriguing questions: Can an active creative culture change the scary stories we tell ourselves about getting older? Can large scale festivals help communities find common ground in their work with older citizens? What is creative aging and why is it being embraced by gerontologists, and brain scientists across the planet?

Dominic Campbell is the originator and co-leader of Creative Aging International. As Ireland's Bealtaine Festival’s Director he steered the festivals growth and expansion over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration, St Patrick’s Festival, he transformed its three shows into ninety within four years growing production and managerial teams alongside the financial support required.

Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” marking EU expansion, he devised and produced 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2,500 artists from 32 countries.

He mentored festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and has developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins.

In 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University College Southern California an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia.

Recognized by The Irish Times as one of the top ten key cultural influencers in Ireland he seeks strategic and business partners to develop Creative Aging International.

Global Brain Health Institute: The Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) is dedicated to protecting the world’s aging populations from threats to brain health. “We strive to improve brain health for populations across the world, reaching into local communities and across our global network. GBHI brings together a powerful mix of disciplines, professions, backgrounds, skills, perspectives, and approaches to develop new science-based solutions. “

The Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health: The Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health program at GBHI provides innovative training, networking, and support to emerging leaders focused on improving brain health and reducing the impact of dementia in their local communities and on a global scale. It is one of seven global Atlantic Fellows programs to advance fairer, healthier, and more inclusive societies.

Chuck Feeney is an American businessman and philanthropist who made his fortune as a co-founder of the Hong Kong based Duty Free Shoppers Group. He is the founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies, one of the largest private charitable foundations in the world. Feeney gave away his fortune in secret for many years, until a business dispute resulted in his identity being revealed in 1997.[2] Feeney has given away more than $8 billion.[3]

Veronica Rojas: Veronica was a guest on Change the Story / Change the World in April of 2023. She has shown her work nationally and internationally. She has been a Visual Aid Grant recipient and has been nominated to The Eureka Fellowship Grant and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant. In 2011 Veronica got the Jerome Caja Terrible Beauty Award. Veronicas’ paintings have been reviewed in Artweek Magazine, Bay Area Express, Metro Active and the TV program Latin Eyes. Currently, Veronica is an Atlantic Fellow for Brain Health and Equity at the Global Brain Health Institute.

Caribbean Carnival: is the term used in the English speaking world for a series of events, held annually throughout almost the whole year in many Caribbean islands and worldwide.[2]

The Caribbean's carnivals have several common themes, all originating from Trinidad and Tobago Carnival also known as the Mother of Carnival , whose popularity and appeal began well before 1846, and gained global recognition in 1881 with the Canboulay Riots in Port Of Spain.[3] #Trinidad Carnival is based on folklore, culture, religion, and tradition (thus relating to the European use of the word, not amusement rides, as the word "carnival" is often used to mean in American English.

St. Patrick's Festival parade in Dublin, Ireland: The iconic National St. Patrick’s Day Parade returns to the streets of Dublin every March 17, with pageants, marching bands and over a million participants. Through contemporary and traditional Irish arts, culture and heritage, the Festival connects families, friends and communities across Ireland, and Ireland’s global tribe of 80 million.     

Damasio’s Somatic Marker Hypothesis: In economic theory, human decision-making is often modeled as being devoid of emotions, involving only logical reasoning based on cost-benefit calculations.[3] In contrast, the somatic marker hypothesis proposes that emotions play a critical role in the ability to make fast, rational decisions in complex and uncertain situations.[1]

Patients with frontal lobe damage, such as Phineas Gage, provided the first evidence that the frontal lobes were associated with decision-making. Frontal lobe damage, particularly to the vmPFC, results in impaired abilities to organize and plan behavior and learn from previous mistakes, without affecting intellect in terms of working memory, attention, and language comprehension and expression.[4][5]

Bealtaine Festival: Bealtaine is Ireland’s national festival which celebrates the arts and creativity as we age. The festival is run by Age & Opportunity, the leading national development organisation working to enable the best possible quality of life for us all as we age. Age & Opportunity Arts provides opportunities for older people to be more creative more often, to create meaningful participation and representation for all older people in cultural and creative life and to demonstrate and celebrate how our creative potential can improve with age. 

Creative Aging International: “Creative Aging International works creatively with companies, organizations and individuals worldwide developing innovative programs tailored to place and bringing together best practice for thought leadership. Our work transforms for the better how we view and approach aging – as individuals, as artists, as companies, as governments and as societies.”

Joseph Beuys, Social Acupuncture/Social Sculpture: Social sculpture is a theory developed by the artist Joseph Beuys in the 1970s based on the concept that everything is art, that every aspect of life could be approached creatively and, as a result, everyone has the potential to be an artist. Social sculpture united Joseph Beuys’s idealistic ideas of a utopian society together with his aesthetic practice. He believed that life is a social sculpture that everyone helps to shape. Many of Beuys’s social sculptures had political and environmental concerns. 7000 Oaks began in 1982 as a five-year project to plant 7000 trees in Kassel in Germany. It raised many questions about city planning, the future of the environment and social structures. 

David Slater, that was the founder of a company called Entelechy: David has over 30 years experience of working with arts practice and communities. In the late1970s he was supported by the Gulbenkian Foundation to develop a programme of participatory arts for Plymouth Arts Centre. In the 1980’s he was founder Director of the pioneering Rotherhithe Theatre Workshop developing a large estate based participatory theatre programme with young people and their families in north Southwark. Most recently as Director of Entelechy and guest artistic director of London’s Capital Age Festival he conceived and co-delivered The Big Chair Dance at Southbank Centre. David has considerable experience of working collaboratively with organisations in both the arts, social care and health sectors.

Entelechy Arts Ltd: We produce projects which powerfully test the boundaries between art, creativity, care, wellbeing and community. “We believe in the creative power of the individual, and that everyone should have the opportunity to contribute to the creative life of their local community. This richness in sharing stories and experiences of those who can often feel underrepresented, encourages stronger communities, changes perceptions, and ultimately helps people live healthier, happier and more connected lives.

Creative Brain Week: Creative Brain Week is a Global Brain Health Institute innovation at Trinity College Dublin, presented in association with the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and with support from Creative Ireland and the Atlantic Institute.

Creative Brain Week 2023 – online and in person events which explored and celebrated how brain science and creativity collide to seed new ideas in social development, technology, entrepreneurship, wellbeing and physical, mental and brain health across the life cycle. This annual pioneering event illustrates innovation at the intersection of arts and brain science, including creative approaches to health.