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Creative Aging
REDEFINING RETIREMENT
» Thursday 24 September 2009 | 5 pm
» The Bohemian Café, 524 Bernard Avenue
An informal afternoon hour showcasing ideas
and people in the Okanagan creative economy. Join us as professor Colin Reid, writer Karen Close and special guests discuss how retirement is now viewed by many as a fluid process, allowing for the reemergence of opportunities and choices.
» $2 at the door. Refreshments are available at a modest cost.
» Seating is limited, please reserve yours HERE
Retiring the Rocking Chair
Retirement, that rite of passage whereby faithful employees attain an age of seniority, are honoured with a party, then withdraw, comfortably pensioned, to a life of ease and leisure is a very recent concept in human history - and it may be on the way out.
Retirement was originally a measure that derived primarily from economic or political expedience. The introduction of mandatory retirement age and government pensions served to gain public favour and free space in the employment rolls for a younger, larger workforce. It was a safe bet: a relatively short life expectancy ensured that the draw on the public purse would be manageable. By the middle of the last century, one's role in each decade of adult life was clearly defined, and the popular image of the "golden years" was one of idle and contented contemplation, rocking on the back porch.
But things have changed. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines "retirement" with the words "ceasing to work," "withdrawal" and "seclusion." Perhaps the word, along with the concept, should come under scrutiny.
On Thursday, September 24th at 5 pm the ongoing weekly Okanagan Institute Express series at the Bohemian Café presents Creative Aging: Redefining Retirement. Join us as professor Colin Reid, writer Karen Close and special guests discuss how retirement is now viewed by many as a fluid process, allowing for the reemergence of opportunities and choices.
 Colin Reid, PhD (University of Victoria) is Assistant Professor in Health Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. He is a social gerontologist and demographer, with particular interest in quantitative and mixed methods. His research Interests are the quality of care and outcomes for institutionalized seniors with dementia, along with health services research with a focus on seniors populations and health and seniors in rural areas. His focus will be what current research in health says about what makes for successful retirement.
The current cohort of seniors reaching or approaching retirement age is a generation that has spent a lifetime redefining roles. Throughout their years of influence they have broken barriers of gender, class, race - and age. They are healthier. They live longer. And other than some inescapable restrictions of the natural ageing process (although medical science continues to challenge even these - is 65 the new 42?), today's seniors are reluctant to let outmoded expectations about ageing and retirement constrain them. Working part time, undertaking new challenges, mentoring those who follow in professional footsteps, many "retirees" now find that they are busier than ever. There is a new vision of ageing. It embraces engagement with life.
 Karen Close has BA and a BEd (visual arts specialist). Teaching English and Art for 30 years gave Karen a deep appreciation for the healing benefits of creative expression. Retirement in 1995 gave her the opportunity to expand her knowledge and devote her time to arts and health advocacy. In 2005 she presented at the international conference of the Society for the Arts in Healthcare in Edmonton and in 2006 at the Canadian Society for Education through Art in Winnipeg. Karen is a painter and the author of Unfinished Women: Seeds From My Friendship With Reva Brooks and Spirit of Kelowna A Celebration of Art and Community. Her heART FIT classes at the Rotary Centre for the Arts teach the healing benefits of 'spontaneous process painting'.
Karen will be attending the Creative Aging Symposium in Calgary, a forum for sharing experience, innovative program models, best practices and research, to promote quality arts-based experiences for older adults. The objectives of the creative aging movement is to: celebrate all forms of creativity in later life; promote recognition of, and help develop the field of arts and aging in Canada; provide a unique training and development opportunity for those involved in this area, or those simply interested in learning more about the field of arts and aging; and explore the significance of arts and aging, in terms of cultural contributions, lifelong learning, community connections, social service and health care. She will be sharing her experiences at the Symposium, and discussing the work of the ArtsCare groupl of the Okanagan Institute
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER ONLINE CLICK HERE
Creative Aging: Redefining Retirement takes place at the Bohemian Café. This marks the 108th event the Okanagan Institute has held since the Express series got underway in July 2007.
Express has played host to many Okanagan luminaries, including former deputy secretary general of Amnesty International Derek Evans, artists Lee Claremont and Gary Pearson, BC Book Award nominee Don Gayton, CBC Literary prize winner poet Harold Rhenisch, distinguished editor and author Jim Taylor, poet and professor John Lent, animator and filmmaker Jim Cliffe, community activist Don Elzer, dancer David LaHay, architect Jim Meiklejohn, culinary artist and writer Heidi Noble, broadcaster Marion Barschel and others from a wide range of creative fields.
The Okanagan Institute is a group of creative professionals that has gathered around the goal of providing events, publications and services of interest to enquiring minds in the Okanagan. We partner with individuals, organizations, institutions and businesses to achieve optimal creative and social impact.
Our mission is to ignite cultural transformation, catalyze collaborative action, build networks and foster sustainable creative enterprises. We invite the participation by all members of the creative community.
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