PAC Receives Grant For Aging Program

Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center’s “Melodies & Memories” program has been named a recipient of the 2013 MetLife Foundation Creative Aging Program Grant. The grant is awarded to nonprofit arts education organizations which have demonstrated the capacity to develop programs that can increase older adults’ social engagement and mastery of one or more art forms.

The PAC’s Creative Aging Program is an original performing arts program designed to foster the continuous development of skills and knowledge throughout the lives of older adults. Since the program was introduced in the fall of 2010, it has steadily grown into a sequential arts mastery program, with each session building upon the previous session. Program participants gain skills in music, theater and reminiscence storytelling and then work together to create a culminating performance for the community.

The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center will use the grant to expand “Melodies & Memories” to include a new section for beginners. The expansion will allow veterans who have been participating in the program for the past three years to receive more advanced instruction in theater and music while at the same time engaging new seniors.

The next performance in the series will be “The Senior Follies: The Creative Age,” with special guests The Flanderettes, The TAPHAMPTON Dancers and members of The Harbormen Chorus, on Sunday, April 28, at 4 p.m. at the PAC. Tickets are free and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. For additional information, visit whbpac.org.