Creative Later Life was a project that aimed to ensure that older people have
increased agency and equity of access to creativity and culture. To achieve this, we began by establishing the Creative Ageing Lived Experience Network (CALEN), which later became known as the Creative Ageing Network (CAN), a collective of creative older people who were willing to share their own perspectives.
The network began by connecting with five established groups across the country:
- Ages and Stages (Stoke)
- Elders Company (Manchester)
- String of Hearts (Trafford)
- Age Friendly Creative Ambassadors (Oxfordshire)
- Flourishing Lives (London)
Each group was invited to nominate three members to come to bi-monthly meetings and share their ideas for positive change. As the group developed, they co-created their own Terms of Reference, which developed over time.
The CAN began the meetings by focussing on sharing creative activities together and taking it in turns to run workshops, but the group quickly decided that they wanted to spend their time focussing on what they could do to influence the world outside the network. The network identified several opportunities to do this, such as conferences, an A-Z of Creative Ageing for the Age of Creativity Festival, and even a co-created song. In 2023, two additional groups joined the network, Performance Ensemble (Leeds) and Newcastle Elders Council.
To learn more about the CAN, take a look at the Terms of Reference document above. We are delighted to say that the group now includes seven group and has plans to continue to work together- which you can read about in the legacy section of this website.
The key takeaway from this section is: embedding lived experience in projects like this is essential and co-creating new ways of working together takes time- but its worth it.
creativelaterlife.com 