Creative Ventures Rounds Out Wellness at Episcopal Homes
Ten Thousand Things presents Mlima’s Tale. Photo credit: Alvan Washington
One resident I spoke with called me back over to share that she feels one of the unique and desirable qualities of Episcopal Homes is its commitment to diversity by offering a full continuum of housing, care and affordability delivered through 2 nursing homes, TCU, memory care, assisted living and 6 independent living apartment communities.
With 56% of residents meet the federal poverty guidelines and 69% of independent apartments classified as HUD-subsidized affordable housing, EHM is proportionally the largest provider of senior affordable housing with services in Minnesota. They prioritize providing access to the same high-quality housing and life enriching programming for all residents regardless of income.
REACH was fortunate to attend a performance of Mlima’s Tale by Ten Thousand Things at Episcopal Homes’ Kings Crossing on University and Dale this week. It represents just one of the many in-house offerings to the residents living at one of the Episcopal Homes buildings.
Along with Spiritual Life and Active Living, Episcopal Homes’ Creative Ventures (CV) program inspires elders to participate in learning and growth opportunities that are designed to form lasting friendships and enrich their sense of meaning and purpose. From one-time sessions to in-depth multi-session classes, Creative Ventures offerings are designed to genuinely strengthen wellbeing.
Current Director, Kristin Aitchison, started in 2011 with the privilege of dreaming up and establishing the Creative Ventures program. After teaching theater in high school and with a background in event planning she had a desire to think/dream/generate outside the box. Every resident I spoke to sang not only the praises of the program itself, but of Kristin.
Kristin hopes to support residents to explore and develop new skills, form friendships and take part in art experiences that they may never have dreamed of doing! For instance, one exciting new direction that integrates and challenges us to reflect, get out of our comfort zone and grow was a graffiti arts program through SPRAYfINGER. One woman proudly exclaimed, “I did graffiti!”
We’ve recently had 3 highly successful cabarets of solo singing and storytelling, our writing groups have published numerous works including plays and writings that have been produced and performed, and we facilitate intergenerational community creativity with local arts high school SPCPA and the Kinder Village Day Care located within our main campus.
Creative Ventures continually fosters appreciation for legacy through digital arts programming to capture and share the experiences and stories or residents with families and the community-at-large.
For more information on Episcopal Homes, visit their website EHOMES
“The Creative Ventures program feeds the spirit and is essential to the quality of our lives. ”
WHO
Kristin Aitchison, Director of Creative Ventures at Episcopal Homes
WHERE
WHEN
Begun in 2011
WHY
The CV program aims to enhance the resident lives through the arts and foster vitality, combat isolation and engage our creative spirit.
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