It\u27s Late but Everything Comes Next : Creative Aging in Modern America

Abstract

The emergence of “Creative Aging” Programs, or fine arts programs exclusively for older adults, invites analysis of these new institutions and their influence on the social elements of the aging process. Drawing on ethnographic methods including participant observation, interviews and content analysis, the present study initiates the sociological and anthropological study of a topic that has primarily been addressed by fields like psychology, neuroscience and gerontology. This paper demonstrates Creative Aging programs to have a unique discourse characterized by the self-deprecation of older adults and the affirming language of instructors. This pattern of interaction renders such programs sites for the contestation of negative popular discourses around aging