WS Chronicle

Senior Services, Inc., was awarded grant funding from the North Carolina Arts Council to offer seniors ages 60+, free visual art classes, hand drum lessons, and acting lessons – the  latter taught by Corliss Sellers, board chair of 40+  Stage Company. 

The Spark the Arts grants include two application tracks: audience re-engagement and audience inclusion. In preparation for the opening of the Senior Services’ Intergenerational Center for Arts and Wellness – 40+ Plus Stage Company’s future performance space – the focus of their grant application was audience inclusion as they deliberately market the classes to folks living in the Boston-Thurmond neighborhood, where Senior Services is located. The grant will provide three six-week sessions of acting lessons through June 30 of 2023.
40+ Stage Company believes in the transformative power of theater. They endeavor to provide actors of all ages with opportunities to perform in meaningful, challenging roles. Their outreach program extends to organizations that provide services and moral support to the aging. Acting, as a performance art form, requires engaging with others and practicing and honing listening skills, memory reliability, and introspection. A creative lifestyle in later years has a demonstrative positive effect in overcoming depression, isolation, addiction, and a host of conditions often associated with growing older.

For more information, visit www.seniorservicesinc.org or www.40plusstage.com.