How Artists Work, Now
The Dance Program hosted two public conversations on art and healthcare, November 8 & 9, 2022.
The second panel discussed collaborative directions in art and health, focusing on what is the unique role of the arts in re-imagining creative approaches to the pressing public health issues of the present.
Anne Basting is a writer, artist and advocate for the power of creativity to transform aging care. She is Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee where she directs the Center for 21st Century Studies. She is Founder of the award-winning non-profit TimeSlips.org, which trains, inspires, and supports caregivers to infuse creativity into care. Her writing and large-scale public performances have helped shape an international movement to extend creative and meaningful expression from childhood, where it is expected, through to late life, where it has been too long withheld.
Her books include Creative Care: A Revolutionary Approach to Elder and Dementia Care (Harper), Penelope: An Arts-based Odyssey to Transform Eldercare (U of Iowa), and Forget Memory: Creating Better Lives for People with Dementia (Johns Hopkins). Internationally recognized for her speaking and her innovative work, Anne is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, and numerous major awards and grants. She believes that creative engagement can and should be infused into every aging care system and has trained/consulted with Meals on Wheels, libraries, home care companies, senior centers, memory cafes, museums, adult day programs, and every level of long-term care.
In 2019, Anne collaborated with a team of artists, elders, and caregivers on her largest project yet – a reimagining of the story of Peter Pan with 12 rural Kentucky nursing homes. She is currently at work on a book and art exhibit about caring for her mother; and on Stories We Know by Heart, a series of intergenerational, creative workshop guides based on classic folk and fairy tales.
Dance Program