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NTM | 'Museum Creative Aging Action'

  • Publish Date:2016-11-17
NTM | 'Museum Creative Aging Action'

  • Date: Sept. 11, 2016
  • Venue: National Taiwan Museum
  • Address: No. 2 Xiangyang Rd., Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
  • Site: www.ntm.gov.tw


The "Museum Creative Aging Action Consortium” will begin operations following a national forum on creative aging held at the National Taiwan Museum in Taipei on Sept. 11.


The Museum Creative Aging Action forum was joined by museum professionals, scholars, and doctors to explore the topics of global aging, "active” aging, and creative aging, as well as to what a museum's role should be in an aging society.


Citing the World Health Organization on how social engagement is the key to "active” aging, the Ministry of Culture launched the Museum Creative Aging Action Consortium to transform museums into social venues for elders as part of a nationwide initiative promoting healthy aging in Taiwan.


Gerontologist Chio Tian-zhu (邱天助) explained that as the global senior population will reach 1.3 billion by 2050, steps need to be taken to help diversify the lives of the elderly in the future. Thus, cultivating a culture and lifestyle for healthy aging will replace the current concepts of disease, disability, and death that are associated to contemporary elderly care.


Liu Wan-chen (劉婉珍), Chair of the Graduate Institute of Conservation of Cultural Relics and Museology at Tainan National University of the Arts, noted that social engagements and art activities could help rejuvenate older brains according to the research conducted by US psychiatrist Dr. Gene D. Cohen.


Liu also shared a case study on how New York's Museum of Modern Art serves people with disabilities with its Access Program, which helps roughly 8,000 people re-connect and engage with society each year. In addition, from 2007 to 2014, MoMA carried out the Alzheimer's Disease Project in conjunction with the MetLife Foundation, making art accessible to people with dementia, added Liu.


Following an elderly dance workshop program in 2015, Taiwan's museums this year aims to strengthen their services for senior citizens and boost equal cultural rights through promoting public understanding of healthy aging concepts, holding more professional training sessions, and seeking further international collaboration.


Supervised by the Ministry of Culture, the forum was hosted bythe Tainan National University of the Arts and the National Taiwan Museum in collaboration with the Chinese Association of Museums, the National Museum of Taiwan History, the National Museum of History, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, and Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology.


November Update

The second round of forums taking place in November will feature Carol Rogers and Louise Parnell from the UK's House of Memories. The National Museum of Taiwan History in Tainan will host two forums on Nov. 22 and 23, whereas the National Taiwan Museum in Taipei will hold the closing event on Nov. 24. More information can be found here.



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Editor's Note: The word "active" refers to continuing participation in social, economic, cultural, spiritual and civic affairs, not just the ability to be physically active or to participate in the labor force.


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Active aging allows people to realize their potential for physical, social, and mental well-being throughout the life course and to participate in society, while providing them with adequate protection, security and care when they need.