Writing in the Guardian, Lyn Gardner speaks to Gavin Barlow at the Albany about the work we are collaborating on together.
‘Old and bold: there’s no age limit on emerging artists’
Many theatres and arts organisations spend time and money on creating shows and participatory projects for young people. The investment in future audiences and future artists is seen as a good thing. So why, asks Gavin Barlow, CEO of the Albany in Deptford, shouldn’t we view older people in the same way? Maybe Philip Larkin was right when he wondered, in Old Fools, if “Perhaps being old is having lighted rooms/ Inside your head.”
Barlow’s question is a good one, and one that is being investigated with Meet Me at the Albany, an initiative created with Entelechy Arts and supported by Lewisham council, that recognises the creative potential of the over-60s and in the process hopes to offer some of the social interaction and care that in the past might have been delivered by day centres.’
