Stagebridge Senior Theatre Wins MetLife Creative Aging Award

OAKLAND, CA, March 21, 2013

The $12,500 prize is given annually to help organizations deepen and expand professionally-led arts education programs for older adults. The Stagebridge award will enable the company to expand its Performing Arts Training Institute to attract older adults who are still in the workforce.

"Making quality arts programs accessible to people of all ages is important," said Dennis White, president and CEO of MetLife Foundation. "We are pleased with the success of the Creative Aging Program and the positive impact it has made on the lives of older Americans."

"This award helps recognize our 35 years of making the performing arts an opportunity for older adults and using the arts to bridge the generations," said Dr. Stuart Kandell, founder and Executive Director of Stagebridge. "This will help us reach out to more diverse communities with our performing arts classes. "

The Creative Aging Program was initiated in 2009 by MetLife Foundation and the National Guild in response to the rapid population growth of Americans aged 60+, as well as the research demonstrating the health benefits generated by professionally-led, participatory arts programs for older adults. For more information on the Guild's programs visit http://www.nationalguild.org/programs/creativeaging.htm.

Stagebridge is the nation's oldest and most acclaimed theatre company of older adults based in Oakland, California. Since 1978, the company's mission has been to create intergenerational bridges and promote healthy aging through the performing arts by offering classes, workshops, outreach programs and public performances. The participants range in age from 50 to 90+ years.

Stagebridge has performed over 30 original plays for more than 350,000 people in senior centers, hospitals, schools and theatres. A pioneer in the field of healthy aging, it created the award-winning "See Me!" program to train medical professionals to see older adults as real people. Stagebridge is the only West Coast representative of TimeSlips , an innovative program that engages people with memory loss and dementia in creative storytelling. The company's Performing Arts Training Institute is the winner of the American Society on Aging 2009 MetLife MindAlert Award. Stagebridge has been featured on ABC‐TV, CNN, National Public Radio, in Modern Maturity, and at national and regional conferences. Stagebridge has begun replicating its programs in Hollywood and Santa Cruz, California.

For more information, contact 510-444-4755, lilyann@stagebridge.org, or visit http://www.stagebridge.org.