Aging population a career opportunity for artists

Aged care facilities may be the next theatres, with an in-built audience ripe for cultural stimulation.
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A participant in Museum of Me. Photo credit:  Michael Findlay.

Australia’s population is aging quickly. The Baby Boomers – the 5.5 million people born in the decade after WWII – are entering their senior years, birth rates are declining and life expectancy is increasing.

Most commentary on the issue focuses on health care and residential facilities, but the implications are much broader. The older population doesn’t just need medical attention, it needs cultural stimulation.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts