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| Senior Programs | |
| Since 1994, the Whitney has worked on a collaborative basis with some of the most vital, community-based senior organizations, centers and homes throughout New York City. We offer a range of unique programs and resources, free of charge through the Museum, that provide exceptional opportunities for intellectual stimulation and self-expression. Through private tours of exhibitions at the Whitney, slide show presentations at senior centers and homes, hands-on art-making minicourses, and teleconference lectures for homebound seniors, the Whitney provides personalized experiences for senior communities and an inroad into the diversity and richness of American art and culture. • Seniors who are interested in participating in a Whitney Senior Program should speak to the director of their local senior center. |
| These special days, hosted four times annually, provide interested groups from senior centers with full access to the entire Museum on a day when the Whitney is not open to the public, allowing seniors the opportunity to explore the galleries at their own pace. All participants are given a guided tour led by Whitney Teaching Fellows, upper level graduate students in art history; docents; or the artists themselves. These in-depth discussions allow seniors to learn in an intimate setting about the art-making process and history of specific works, while engaging directly with the themes and narratives of exhibitions on view. Seating is provided in the galleries for comfort and convenience, and complimentary refreshments are available throughout the day in the Whitney’s café. |
| These interactive slide-based lectures at senior centers and homes offer participants a special preview of upcoming exhibitions and a comprehensive learning experience around an array of Whitney-related topics, while also providing the opportunity to reach seniors unable to travel to the Museum. For each Senior Center Slide Talk, a Whitney Teaching Fellow or docent provides an illustrated thematic overview of a select group of artwork, placing the works in their art historical context, and engages the seniors in a dialogue regarding the lecture topic. Senior Center Slide Talks focus on a variety of subjects, including current and upcoming exhibitions, the Whitney permanent collection, and other Whitney-related topics, such as “Whitney Women,” a look at women artists in the Whitney’s permanent collection; and “All Roads Lead to New York,” a survey of émigré artist in the collection and their experiences in 20th-century New York.
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| Memory Narrates: Merging Memory, Narrative and Collage The Whitney’s studio art program for seniors, MEMORY NARRATES is a seven-week program designed to provide an accessible, collaborative environment in which seniors share in a hands-on process of creative expression. Launched in 2002, the collage program allows seniors to explore their personal histories through the collage aesthetic and its applications in 20th-century and contemporary American art. Lectures and art-making at the senior centers are integrated with museum visits to provide a framework for the collage project and an opportunity to learn more about the Whitney’s exhibitions. This fall, 12 seniors from SAGE Queens explored themes of genealogy, oral history and narrative in Kara Walker’s silhouettes to create new works for the collage program.
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 Photograph by Tiffany Oelfke | Extending the Whitney walls to homebound seniors, the Museum’s Teleconference Courses are offered through the Meals on Wheels programs of senior centers and homes. For each course, Museum Teaching Fellows or docents mail packets of color images that seniors reference as a visual aid during multi-session lectures conducted over the telephone. Through the use of teleconference technology provided by the senior centers, participants can engage in an open forum with a Whitney lecturer and with one another from the comfort of their homes. This summer, 15 seniors from the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center called in to learn about and discuss Modernisms, a survey of 20th-century American art and culture.
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Senior Programs are made possible by the generous support of the Louis and Anne Abrons Foundation, Inc. Major support has been provided by Eisai Inc.
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