“We are part of the post-second World War baby boomers who belong, in many ways, to a blessed generation,” says author and Bealtaine Festival ambassador Liz McManus. “We grew up in a largely peaceful world, had rock’n’roll in our teenage years, contraception and women’s liberation in our reproductive years, and, despite the economic booms and crashes, a prosperity that previous generations would envy.”
While the lives of older people in Ireland are significantly better now in comparison to 50 years ago, the disparities in available opportunities, resources, and participation in society remain vast. Not everyone has the same chances in life and stereotypes continue to be widespread. The prospects once afforded to adults in their younger years change as they age. Societal expectations hinder involvement and momentum for a population that understands ageing can be a new vibrant stage. Embracing that understanding and connecting with the needs of the self is a challenge but a worthwhile one.
In a Bealtaine-themed essay, McManus writes: “When I retired, I discovered that being old is like being young again, only this time, it is better, because there are no parents telling you what to do. We are on our own. It is up to each one of us to answer the poet Mary Oliver’s famous question — tell me, what do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
McManus recognises the limitations of older age but puts it into context using her favourite Cicero quotation: Old age is only honoured if it defends itself.
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As a society that frequently stereotypes ageing, McManus highlights that “elder abuse is a real phenomenon, and we need to look out for each other in order to prevent it.” She says that sociability and support for one another are crucial to ageing well and encourage those familial and intergenerational connections that can help shatter the barriers to society’s limiting beliefs about ageing. “Family and friendship become more important than ever. For some older people, loneliness is still a burden, despite the community networks all around us.”
Utilising the arts is one way to create meaningful connections and representation of creativity in older age and demonstrate the cultural potential of the older population. As McManus says, “stepping beyond the familiar can be hard, but it is richly rewarding to discover a new skill, a hidden well of creativity, or simply to sit with a group of friends and talk and laugh together”.
Ciaran McKinney, engage programme manager at Age and Opportunity — a charity “championing the creativity and value of older people” — eloquently and regrettably highlights how older people are often viewed upon by society as having a past to look on. “We often think of older people in terms of reminiscence,” he says. He further clarifies that engaging with the arts, “either as an audience member or in the creative process, brings us into the now, into the present, particularly if we are making something that also brings us into the future as well”.
Arts engagement by older adults is high according to the report on Creative Activity in the Ageing Population. As part of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, this report highlighted that over half of older adults are involved in creative activities weekly, with the level of involvement consistent between the ages of 50 to 74 years. McKinney recognises that “for older people in particular, arts have often been seen to be a luxury. Older people may not have had the opportunity to partake in the arts, so, for many, it’s in later life that they get this opportunity.”
The report also highlights older adults reporting high levels of participation in creative activities also conveyed the highest quality of life. Research has long noted the impact arts and creativity can have on mental wellbeing, general health, and the social aspects of ageing. Additional studies highlight encouraging older adults to shift their behaviour to embrace the arts as a health promotion strategy and to create more meaningful connections in a person’s evolving creative potential. Recreational arts-based activities, community events, intergenerational programmes and events such as creative writing, drawing, painting, knitting, felting, photography, dancing, singing, book clubs, and theatre, celebrate and explore the arts through creativity.
McKinney validates how the arts can bring an enormous sense of joy into a person’s life. “We can experience tapping into creativity that maybe we didn’t know we had, or indeed, creativity that we’d once had. It can be either a revisiting or brand-new experience.”
A report on how arts and creativity can have positive outcomes for older people’s health and wellbeing was prepared by the Institute of Public Health. A key recommendation highlighted the need for an evaluation toolkit for the arts and creativity sector to better measure the impact of arts programmes. The report also highlighted the need for increased collaborative interventions and addressing the barriers to participation in the arts and creativity by older people in vulnerable and at-risk groups, especially those in isolated communities. Delivering arts engagement with increased access, availability, and collaboration aimed at these groups will encourage and motivate these groups to meaningfully engage with the arts and creativity, thereby offering the positive associations with ageing well through the arts.
McManus is passionate about the Bealtaine Festival, which is about promoting creativity in older age. “To celebrate ageing in this way is an important signal that older people are not disappearing quietly into the night,” says McManus. “We have something to offer in terms of learned experience and wisdom that can be cherished. To live in a truly multigenerational community, older people need to be heard and Bealtaine gives us a voice. Young people coming after us too, need to know that growing old can be fun. The festival gives us an opportunity to show them.”
“Older age is a wonderful time of opportunity and perhaps more self-actualisation and self-expression,” says McKinney. “What’s lovely is we are able to challenge the kinds of stereotypes in society and are able to express ourselves in all kinds of ways as citizens of Ireland, as opposed to some of the stereotypes that represent us as pension time bombs or a burden on the state. In fact, older people contribute massively to Ireland through the amount of volunteering we do.
“We are ageing from the day we are born, so the challenge is to live consciously as much as we can. Our lives become richer no matter what age we are.”
