Programs focused on providing older adults with artistic opportunities have been successful implemented around the country. These ‘creative aging’ programs represent a shift away from thinking of older adults as passive consumers and towards active creators of art. Furthermore, these programs are often effective for people with memory loss as the program relies on aesthetic appreciation, imagination, and storytelling. 

Some of these programs bring to facilities artists to have them engage with residents. A partnership between music therapists, the Phoenix Orchestra, and assisted living facilities, the “Music and Memory” project puts on musical performances for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. A Minneapolis dance company works with assisting living residents leading them in movement, exercise and dance routines. 

Some facilities have arts opportunities built into their fabric. The California-based EngAGE organization has built senior ‘art colonies’ where residents have access to writing, performance, and visual arts classes as well as studios and theaters to ply their craft. Another program takes older adults with memory loss to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC for visual meditation. Using a painting as a prompt, people are encouraged to react or interpret what they are seeing. While this project takes place outside of an assisted living facility, it could be effectively replicated for residents using any visual art at the facility.

Not only have these programs make a positive impact in the lives of residents, but they have also had a beneficial impact on the lives of the residents’ caregivers.