Arts & Health marks 20 years supporting seniors through creativity and connection

For the past 20 years, Arts & Health: Healthy Aging Through the Arts—a collaborative initiative between the Vancouver Park Board and Vancouver Coastal Health—has proven that creativity is essential medicine for aging.

The program launched on June 1, coinciding with Seniors Week and the 20th anniversary celebration. Since its inception, Arts & Health has delivered 25 projects across the city, engaging a rotating cohort of 100-plus seniors and Indigenous Elders each year and collaborating with more than 55 professional artists.

The impact is tangible and diverse. The initiative spawned an improvisational new music choir that performed at the Biltmore Cabaret, a large-scale hand-felted book documenting Renfrew neighbourhood history, queer storytelling publications, DIY music videos, and a mail art initiative during COVID-19 that connected isolated seniors through self-portraits, recipes, stories, and reflections.

At its core, Arts & Health highlights the role the arts play in supporting healthy aging by enhancing well-being, strengthening social connections, and enriching quality of life.

QUIRK-E—Queer Imaging and Riting Kollective for Elders—exemplifies the program's reach. Born largely through Arts & Health, this group of a few dozen queer elders has met regularly since 2006 to connect, care, and create community through writing, art projects, advocacy work, and performances. Over 20 years, members have produced written works, zines, live shows, and more viewed by tens of thousands worldwide.

Cyndia Cole, a former healthcare administrator who turned 76 on June 1, has been deeply involved with QUIRK-E. She speaks to the group's mission: "Community is super important to everybody in the LGBTQ+ community, and once we retire, it's especially important for us to stay active and stay connected."

Group members meet in person at Britannia Community Services Centre or online periodically to collaborate on projects and keep tabs on one another as their years advance. Some members are immobile, others have dementia and can no longer meet in person. But the camaraderie and work matter deeply.

"Social isolation for queer seniors is a killer and we are a response to that," Cole said. "But beyond that, people who have lived long lives have a lot to say. We want to share what we have learned with a younger generation."

Cole arrived in Vancouver in 1970 and has witnessed transformations in LGBTQ+ rights and belonging. "We've been through a lot: we've lived in times in which our mere existence was illegal, we were seen as having contagious and deadly diseases and spreading them around," she reflected. "Some of the things that we write can be very vulnerable, but I think the support of the group really helps us."