Annual AgeIn
Create, Connect, Contribute
~ A Celebration & Fundraiser ~
Exercise YOUR creativity and playfulness with us at this year’s annual agein fundraiser – Connect, Create, Contribute! Join innovators, creators and community members from different disciplines in engaging online Play Dates and our Celebration of FUN!
Please help us make this celebration of shared humanity a success by participating and making a financial contribution.
Online Play Dates
Monday – Thursday, October 18, 19, 20 & 21 | 5:00-6:30 PM PST
In-Person Celebration OR At-Home Celebration Package
Saturday, October 23, 2021 | 1:30-4:30 PM PST at the Destiny Arts Center, 970 Grace Ave, Oakland
(Additional event details below!)
Thank You to Our Venue and Food Sponsor:
Registration Options:
Let’s get creative together! Join us for all of the agein events!
Attend all 4 Online Playdates AND the Celebration! (Your choice of in-person or at-home).
No time for our Play Dates? That’s OK!
Register to attend the Celebration in-person, or sign up to recieve our At-Home Celebration Package!
Saturday October 23, 2021 from 1:30pm to 4:30 p.m. PST
Enjoy All 4 Online Play Dates!
Monday, October 18 – Thursday, October 21
5:00 – 6:30 p.m. PST
via Zoom
Engage and create with thought leaders in fun, meaningful, and delightful ways.
Attend 1 of our 4 Available Online Play Dates!
Monday, October 18 – Thursday, October 21
5:00 – 6:30 p.m. PST
via Zoom
Engage and create with thought leaders in fun, meaningful, and delightful ways.
Play Date Details:
Curiosity Lab: What can we spark through collectively imagining something? Through a series of interactive prompts, participants will explore the power of collaboration using creative frameworks for heartfelt discussions and interactive exploration. In the Curiosity Lab, we will make use of metaphor, spontaneity, storytelling, and all the senses to share, nurture, and develop fresh ideas together within a supportive cohort. Hosted by teaching artist and Bay Area-based theatre maker Evan Johnson.
Evan Johnson is an actor/creator, teaching artist, and community builder with over 15 years experience. He’s the director of the Cosmic Elders Theatre Ensemble, and he hosts regular gatherings, events, and workshops. Evan’s background is in physical theatre, improv, solo performance, and playwriting. For more info: www.evanjohnsonplays.com
Writing as Practice: Discovering the Joy of Connection
One of the fallacies of joy is that it only blooms when life is just right. The truth is that joy, the deep sense of being connected to our lives, is possible regardless of our circumstance. For this play date, we will use writing as the tool and the expression of connection. This won’t be your second-grade teacher’s writing class. You will be free to roam without a dictionary, commas or proper sentence structure. You will be given a prompt and then invited to write from what some have called our “wild mind” — a place of forgotten treasures and unexpected visitors. You will be guided along the journey, but you can’t do this wrong! Whatever your relationship to writing, you are welcomed to this party. We get to be playful, soulful and courageous. Our writing will be different, but we will not be alone. Our stories connect us, and this is fertile ground for joy.
David Fredrickson is a writer, author, mindful self-compassion teacher, psychotherapist, and student of life. For more info: www.davidafredrickson.com
Visual Expression: Flights of Fantasy, A Drawing Workshop
Join Artist Karen Heagle through a series of playful drawing exercises inspired by surrealistic free association, automatic drawing, diving deep into to the corners of our unconscious while also accessing the realm of the imagination. Artists and non-artists are welcome!
Have pencil paper, tempera paint or colored inks, crayons or pastels, a few brushes, a couple of containers with water, your favourite magic markers. A pad of drawing paper.
Heagle will introduce her own art practice, and share some of the art historical trappings surrounding these drawing practices that she will explore with you.
Karen Heagle is a visual artist based in New York City who works primarily in painting and drawing. Her work reflects autobiographical symbolism, thematically focused on memento mori, feminism, sexuality, and queer identity. She has exhibited widely in New York City, including most recently at Sargent’s Daughters, while also participating in many group exhibitions. She is the vice president of the Board of Directors of the Fire Island Artist Residency, holds an MFA from Pratt Institute, and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Learn more: www.karenheagle.com
Need a laugh?
Write a joke about the experiences of growing older. Stand up comedian Iris Benson will lead a workshop about writing and landing jokes. Participants will have the option to perform during our celebration on October 23.
Iris Benson has been a standup comedian for 10 years in addition to improv, acting and screenwriting. Her deadpan delivery and off-kilter point of view has earned her spots in several comedy festivals, including The Laughing Devil Comedy Festival (NY, NY), Trial by Laughter Competition (Indianapolis, IN), The She-Devil Festival (NY, NY), The She-Dot Festival (Toronto, ON), Cape Fear Comedy Festival (Wilmington, NC) and the Idaho Comedy Festival (Boise, ID). You can see her in the upcoming World Series of Comedy in Las Vegas and The Savage Henry Comedy Festival in Eureka, CA. Learn more: irisbenson.com
In-Person Celebration and At-Home Celebration Package Details:
Saturday October 23
1:30pm to 4:30 p.m. PST
Destiny Arts Center, 970 Grace Ave, Oakland, CA
Easy Street Parking | 1 mile from Ashby BART Station
*Proof of COVID-19 vaccination at the door required for entry. We are wearing masks when inside unless eating or drinking. Ample space and new air filtration system!
For Bay Area participants, enjoy the precious experience of meeting in-person with music, movement and good food at Destiny Arts. Meet the participants in your Play Dates. Discover new people. Share your experiences!
Join a way-of-joy Qigong session with Bay Area actress and qigong teacher Vicki dello Joio,
or join a dance with dancer Risa Jaroslow. Be charmed by the accordion play of Circus Bella impresario and musician Rob Reich.
Catered by Sweet Adeline Bake Shop!
Register early and get the autographed copy of the inspirational life story of renowned 92-year old jazz vocalist Ed Reed. (40 Available!)
At-Home Celebration Package (Sent to you before October 23 – if registered by Sunday, October 17)
Celebrate with us while out of town or at home with the At-Home Celebration Package! Enjoy your home. Reflect on your experience of participating in a Play Date. Make a toast to your good self.
The Celebration Package includes:
Create a home that is a partner in your wellbeing:
– A tipsheet on simple DIY ideas with hand drawn diagrams and text by Architect and AHWGO Executive Director Susanne Stadler
Connect with friends and family by writing a postcard:
– Set of 6 postcards of one motive by Bay Area Architect and Aquarelist Karen Fiene
Contribute to the wellbeing of your community and your own:
– Food: A simple ‘At Home With Growing Older’ cooking recipe by Junior Chef Clea Wurster
– Health: Three everyday stretches by New York Choreographer Marcy Simmons
– Community: Tips on party planning (from four to a crowd)
“I can’t attend, but I want to support At Home With Growing Older’s work!”
If you’d like to get involved, we are seeking volunteers to help with our online Play Dates and our in-person Celebration. If interested, contact Sara Ingram at singram@athomewithgrowingolder.org.
Agein Volunteer Descriptions:
In-Person Volunteer Coordinator(s)
- Saturday, October 23 from 12:30 – 5:15 PM
- Makes sure we have enough people scheduled
- Needed: 1-2
In-Person Volunteers on Saturday, October 23, 2021
- 12:30 – 1:00 PM – Set up (5 volunteers)
- 1:00 – 1:30 PM – Check in (2 volunteers)
- 1:00 – 2:30 PM – Set up and manage snack buffet (5)
- 2:15 – 2:45 PM: Photo booth (2 volunteers)
- 4:30 – 5:15 PM: Clean up (5 volunteers)
Weekday Volunteer Coordinator(s) – Remote
- Monday-Thursday, October 18-21, 2021
- Makes sure we have enough people scheduled
- Needed 1-2
Weekday Volunteers – Remote
- Monday-Thursday, October 18-21, 2021
- Manages Zoom meeting from 5:30 – 7:00 PM PST, including break out room. This includes making sure participants have their microphones off when not speaking and on when speaking, helping people with views, getting in and out of break out rooms, etc.
- Needed: 2-8
History of agein
In June of 2019, AHWGO piloted a day-long super forum, an ‘agein’ in the style of the 1960s teach-ins. We aimed to include people of varied ages and backgrounds, and explore how the later stages of life are seen, felt and understood.
Motivated by its success we will take this annual event to key locations in California in order to:
- Reach new audiences
- Incentivize other communities to form AHWGO creative learning communities
- Identify more opportunities for AHWGO to bring aging consideration to a greater range of organizations and corporations
First agein, June 2019, Ed Roberts Campus Berkeley.
“….there were some amazing people and creative brains in the room and so much potential to activate whole communities and created system-wide change!”
agein participant