Caregivers in Southwest Michigan now have a unique opportunity to share their experiences through art with the new Window to Our World project.
This initiative, provided by the Arts and Aging Partnership, offers caregivers an art kit to explore themes such as dementia and the caregiving journey.
Area Agency on Aging communications and outreach coordinator Alexandra Newman tells us this marks the inaugural year of the project, which aims to raise awareness about caregivers’ experiences.
“Each caregiver and care partner will receive a little prompt of some things to think about and talk about with their together as they do this project,” Newman says. “The artists that put this together through the South Haven Center for the Arts created a lot of interesting tools and questions and things in there.”
To assist participants, the Area Agency on Aging is hosting two in-person sessions: one on January 3 at the South Haven Center for the Arts and another on January 24 at the Campus for Creative Aging in St. Joseph. These dates will provide hands-on support for caregivers to create their art pieces.
“We’ll have an artist on hand from the South Haven Center of the Arts to kind of talk people through the project, explain a little bit more about the materials that are in there, and show some examples of what some other caregivers have put together already and just kind of talk about what it’s like being a caregiver,” Newman says.
Once the kits are completed, they can be returned to any of the Area Agency on Aging locations in South Haven, Cassopolis, and St. Joseph.
The finished projects will be showcased to the public at a later date this winter.
