Old School Intergenerational Projects

The Elevate Prize would give me a chance to live my dream of helping connect people and create empathy for one another while exploring their creative side. I have always been passionate about working with young people and older people. This could give me a chance to spread our Old School work across the country and possibly the world. Arts impact the well-being of all, mixing that with intergenerational programming is a chance for the world to become a little bit more accepting.Hire kind-hearted professionals in areas that Claire and I are not as proficient. 

I am 29 years old from St. John's, Newfoundland Labrador, Canada. I have a diploma in Musical Theatre Performance from Sheridan College and spent my early 20's yearning to be on the stage forever. My life shifted when I moved to Northern Ireland, where I discovered my passion for helping people. I never knew in which regard I could do this but through my background working with young and old folks, in collaboration with my friend, Claire (Programming Director) with similar passions. We created an organization that can reach people of all ages and brings them together to promote wellness and empathy. My grandfather(Pop) lived with dementia for four years; he died 10 years ago. As a teenager, I studied him, I was completely fascinated by what this disease had done to my Pop. I didn't know how I could work with older adults living with dementia without being in the medical field or social work field, but I have finally found a way. I can use my arts background to benefit the lives of older adults (including those with dementia) and assist in the understanding of what many young people seem to be afraid of.

One of the problems our organization is striving to solve is ageism, of both young and old people. We are attempting to do this by finding the common ground between generations and learning from their differences. People in most communities around the world live very separate lives when they are of different ages. When was the last time you saw an 80-year-old and a 20 year old that weren't related, just hanging out because they are friends? Probably never, or not very often. One of my best friends is 91 years old. We connected through music, he plays piano and I sing. It turns out we have even more in common than that and we can sit and chat for hours. The issue is that the opportunities to connect are seldom available for generations to connect. Sign up for a class ages 20-30 or 60+, there is very little mixing, causing an inherent separation that then causes people to make assumptions. Old School is creating opportunities. We are undergoing buying a 2008 school bus to take around the province offering social participation through specially design arts programs and performances. 

Innovative is exactly how I would describe our ideas for Old School and what we want it to look like going forward. So far we have created in-class programming for schools where we connected students via letter writing with residents are local retirement homes. The Pen Pal Project was our first project, which we facilitated for 2 years. We met in class with students, did theatre games, empathy, and aging games connecting to their pen pal. It was a way of creating social-emotional learning within the classroom. When they met their Pen Pals, we saw students who have significant behavioral issues in the classroom become calm, respectful, and excited. Everyone involved was impacted so strongly by building that connection. Our bus initiative is something we don't believe has ever been done before, anywhere in the world. Although there are similar buses that offer birthday parties for children (which we may do in the future to support our programming), we are creating something for all ages to use while also utilizing the space as our administration space and storage space for programming equipment. Outdoor performances will then be made available in the summertime, using our bus as the backstage area.

Think about an old person in your life, they may still have a huge social network, but it is more likely they home alone or living in a residence losing lifelong skills or memories. Their stimulation is by the television and a couple of phone calls. We are all going to be that old person one day. Maybe our circumstances will be slightly different but inevitably we will need assistance to do basic things one day. 

Think about a young person in your life, they may have grandparents they see every day, or it is also likely they could have no one over the age of 60 in their immediate circle. They may not know about the struggles of yesteryears except from a history textbook. Some may even be afraid of old people because they think of them as frail and unable. We were all young once, with a lack of experience. 

The impact of these two generations having a genuine connection and understanding of each other could change the world for the better. Our plan is to implement the programs with the funding we are granted; make it as large as we can in NL, then spread to as many places as possible.