Significant love is a community arts project and public events series that engages the elderly community through hands on, multi-media storytelling. For several weeks seniors will share love stories from their past through hand made books, digital media and live readings. It takes place at Surf Solomon Senior Center in Coney Island, NYC between April- June 2013. During this time seniors have the option to take part in weekly workshops that guide them through a series of activities that culminate into a multimedia story that they can share digitally, in print and/or in person.
Significant Love provides seniors with arts programming that is educational, experiential, engaging and challenging. It will include the following workshops; Using digital tools in art (An introduction to using digital tools in visual art); Creating a multi-media story (An introductory workshop on interactive narrative tools); Sharing your stories electronically (An introductory workshop about uploading and sharing media online); Hand make books and Zines (An introductory workshop on how to make hand made books and Zines).
A culmination of the work will be presented at free public events. These may include programs like; Story Share (listen, watch and experience the stories created by seniors); Exhibition (This will be a continuous multi-media exhibition inside the senior center); Skill Swap (Seniors get to share their newly acquired skills with the public through collaborative art activities).
Significant Love is made possible by Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide (SPARC). SPARC is a collaboration among the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Department for the Aging and five of the City’s local arts councils.
Many thanks to the Surf Solomon Senior Center and Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island for their participation and support.