On the Threshold: Creativity in Mid-Life

Friday, November 4, 2022

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM ET

Location: 211 CC

CE: 1.5

Chair(s)

Carolyn Adams-Price, PhD

professor of psychology
Psychology
Mississippi State University
STARKVILLE, Mississippi, United States

Co-Chair(s)

Desmond O'Neill, MD FGSA

Professor
Medical Gerontology
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

Desmond O'Neill, MD FGSA

Professor
Medical Gerontology
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Carolyn Adams-Price, PhD

professor of psychology
Psychology
Mississippi State University
STARKVILLE, Mississippi, United States
Roger O'Sullivan, PhD, FGSA, MFPH

Director of Ageing
Ageing
Institute of Public Health in Ireland
Belfast/Dublin, Ireland

While late-life creativity has attracted significant scholarly inquiry, it is not clear that the same focus has applied to creativity in midlife and its relationship to creativity across the lifespan. Allied to a proposed symphonic concert by the Indianapolis Symphony of works from late midlife creativity with gerontologically-themed pre-concert talks occurring alongside GSA 2022, an activity curated by the Humanities, Arts and Cultural Gerontology Advisory Panel of GSA, this symposium will provide insights into a relatively under-explored aspect of creativity and aging, that of midlife creativity and its relationship to creativity at other stages of life. For many artists the most significant breakthroughs in style and critical reception are found in the works of midlife, and the symposium will explore the phenomenology and underlying themes of midlife creativity. This will include a review of the literature, a focus on midlife breakthrough and development in the creativity of Brahms and Janacek, interaction with the program of the parallel symphony concert, and a focus on arts and crafts creativity in people newly undertaking arts and crafts in mid-life. This will be complemented by a review of creativity and well-being from the age of 50 onwards.

Learning Objectives:

To better understand the phenomenology and relation of midlife creativity to creativity at other stages of life
To gain perspective on what and how people in midlife engage with new activities in arts and crafts
to promote increased scholarly focus on midlife creativity

Presentations:

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM ET

Midlife Creativity Among Composers and Novelists
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Desmond O'Neill, MD FGSA – Trinity College Dublin
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM ET

We're All Makers Now: Arts and Craft Participation in Midlife
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Carolyn Adams-Price, PhD – Mississippi State University
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM ET

Arts and Creativity and Their Impact on Health and Well-Being: A Systematic Review of the Evidence
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Roger O'Sullivan, PhD, FGSA, MFPH – Institute of Public Health in Ireland