Mind the Gap

EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week, we feature intergenerational program ideas that were tried and successful. This series is a tool to highlight various age-optimized programs and practices. The program descriptions are provided by representatives of the programs. Inclusion in this series does not imply Generations United’s endorsement or recommendation, but rather encourages ideas to inspire other programs.

This week's cool idea is Mind the Gap: Intergenerational Theatre Workshop, which helps foster meaningful dialogue among artists and audiences of diverse backgrounds and generations.

(Check our archives for parts 1-82 | non-archived: 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6 and 7)

Mind the Gap is a free workshop in which half of the participants are elders ages 60 and up and half are teenagers ages 14-19. Workshops are held twice per season at the New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) as well as in residence at multiple community partner locations around New York City.

Over the course of 10 sessions, participants work in pairs to interview each other and write plays inspired by their partner’s personal stories. Each workshop culminates with an invited presentation in which participants’ work is read aloud by professional actors.

NYTW holds sessions of Mind the Gap in the Summer (July-August) and Fall (October-December).

Got something cool you tried that was successful? Share the inspiration. You can also post them to our Intergenerational Connections Facebook Group. We want to highlight innovative age-optimized programs and practices through our blog, social media and weekly e-newsletter!

Elders Share the Arts (ESTA)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week, we feature intergenerational program ideas that were tried and successful. This series is a tool to highlight various age-optimized programs and practices. The program descriptions are provided by representatives of the programs. Inclusion in this series does not imply Generations United’s endorsement or recommendation, but rather encourages ideas to inspire other programs.

This week’s cool ideas is Elders Share the Arts (ESTA) in New York, which offers high-caliber arts programming that ignites creative expression in young and old. 

(Check our archives for parts 1-65.)

ESTA cultivates elders' role as bearers of history and culture, while generating new pathways to connect them to their communities.

The residencies are a springboard for developing and researching replicable programs, and through our training we provide opportunities for organizations to help serve this growing population.

ESTA works to bridge communication and build relationships between young and old through innovative arts programs that offer students a positive perspective of the elderly.

Got something cool you tried that was successful? Why not tweet your cool intergenerational ideas to #cooligideas? You can also post them to our Intergenerational Connections Facebook Group. We want to highlight innovative age-optimized programs and practices through our blog, social media and weekly e-newsletter! Share the inspiration.

Witness Theater

PHOTO: Witness Theater

EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week, we feature intergenerational program ideas that were tried and successful. This series is a tool to highlight various age-optimized programs and practices. The program descriptions are provided by representatives of the programs. Inclusion in this series does not imply Generations United’s endorsement or recommendation, but rather encourages ideas to inspire other programs.

This week’s cool idea is Witness Theater, a unique intergenerational program that brings Holocaust survivors and teenagers together under the guidance of a drama therapist to develop a theatrical presentation of the survivors' Holocaust experiences.

(Check our archives for parts 1-58.)

Witness Theater is among the New York-area Jewish charities to which the Jewish Communal Fund (JCF) recently awarded a grant.

PHOTO: Stav Ziv

The $100,000 grant will bring this moving and powerful educational experience to the Ramaz School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, as well as cover the cost of a program director to oversee Witness Theater at a total of four schools.

Got something cool you tried that was successful? Why not tweet your cool intergenerational ideas to #cooligideas? You can also post them to our Intergenerational Connections Facebook Group. We want to highlight innovative age-optimized programs and practices through our blog, social media and weekly e-newsletter! Share the inspiration.

Grand Camps and Grandparents and Grandchildren's Camp

Haw River State Park

EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week, we feature intergenerational program ideas that were tried and successful. This series is a tool to highlight various age-optimized programs and practices. The program descriptions are provided by representatives of the programs. Inclusion in this series does not imply Generations United’s endorsement or recommendation, but rather encourages ideas to inspire other programs.

This week’s cool ideas are Grand Camps and Grandparents and Grandchildren’s Camp. Both camps engage all ages in amazing outdoor adventures.

(Check our archives for parts 1-55.)

The Grand Camps is a program of the Haw River State Park in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Grand Camps are for grandparents who would like to come to summer camp with a grandchild or two, or for children who would like to bring their grandparents to camp.

"The Illusion of Roughing It" at Grandparents and
Grandchildren's Camp - Great Camp Sagamore.

The Summit Environmental Education Staff of Haw River lead participants in many amazing park adventures.

Activities are based on weekly themes.

Grand Camps kicks off in Week 3 (August 5-7) of the Haw River Park summer program and concludes in Week 4 (August 12-14).

In Raquette Lake, New York, the Grandparents' and Grandchildren’s' Camp is a program of Great Camp Sagamore.

This authentic 1890s, 27-building National Historic Landmark has, for more than two decades, offered historically-based programs through day visits and multi-day/night residencies.

Their Grandparents’ and Grandchildren’s’ Camp sessions in July and August introduce an intergenerational curriculum using outdoor, historical, crafting and musical activities.

One of the most popular of these programs is “The Illusion of Roughing It,” a basic great camps course that teaches Gilded Age history and uses both Sagamore, the Vanderbilt Great Camp, and neighboring Great Camp Uncas that once belonged to J. P. Morgan.

All residential courses include room and board, the daily history tour, time for relaxation and reflection, and the opportunity to experience the same woods and waters that Durant did in 1897.

Got something cool you tried that was successful? Why not tweet your cool intergenerational ideas to #cooligideas? You can also post them to our Intergenerational Connections Facebook Group. We want to highlight innovative age-optimized programs and practices through our blog, social media and weekly e-newsletter! Share the inspiration.