Creative Arts and Aging Network
Meeting Minutes
January 14th, 2009Community Arts Center in Wallingford
CAAN Members in Attendance: Maris Grove:
Jenn Allen, Sally Christy, LuAnn Davis; Wayne Art Center:
Kathy Bright; Wayne Senior Center:
Donna Alexander; Mid County Senior Services:
Meaghan Brown, Mary Catherine Dabrowski; Main Line Art Center:
Stacie Nussbaum; Community Arts Center:
Suzanne Hayward; Library System of Delaware County :
Susan Purcell; Senior Community Services:
Nikki Panico; Northwestern Human Services:
Sharon White; The Philadelphia Orchestra:
Christy Voytko; Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance & Media Arts Council:
Jessica Eldredge; Artist:
Richard Aldorasi; Aging Positively:
Rennie Cohen
1) Grant Update: The 12-week program is called
ArtVenture: A Moving Story. CAAN artists
Kezia Lechner and
Sheila Zagar are teaching the classes, held at Main Line Art Center. The classes will begin February 23rd, applications are available from anyone on the ArtVenture Committee (
Rennie Cohen, Suzanne Hayward, Donna Alexander, Mary Catherine Dabrowski, or Stacie Nussbaum).
2) Small group breakout session, 4 CAAN Committees formed:
a. Marketing & Publicityi. Facilitator: Meaghan Brown
ii. Goals to work on in 2009:
1. Publish an on-line Network & Membership Directory
2. Utilize the web to attract artists and agencies to CAAN
3. Establish a year-end culminating event to present CAAN
4. Communicate throughout the year via a listserv through google or yahoo
b. Training
i. Facilitator: Mary Catherine Dabrowski
ii. Goals to work on for 2009:
1. Start an artists group to meet and to participate in on-line discussions and blogs.
Have meetings with speakers, reach a large range of artists.
2. Develop a resource manual for artists working with older adults
3. Develop a blog for teaching artists to act as a support and membership group
c. Creative Experiencesi. Facilitator: Kathy Bright
ii. Goals to work on for 2009:
1. Create and distribute surveys about groups’ services and programs to providers
of creative programming services
2. Create a tool (survey) for users of creative programming for seniors to be used to
analyze the creative programming needs of individual center participants.
3. Develop an online handbook for users of services with program options offered my
member organizations and artists, including pertinent information such as program
description, fees, etc.
4. Explore possibility of grant funding for provision of creative programming for CAAN
member facilities.
d. Artist Support
i. Facilitator: Rennie Cohen
ii. Goals for 2009:
1. Find funding for artists
2. Act as a clearinghouse for artists
3. Develop an annual artist showcase
Each group also identified the timeframe and resources needed to obtain each objective, for the purpose of keeping our meeting minutes shorter, you can find these by checking our blog at
http://caan-pa.blogspot.com/. If you are interested in joining any of these committees, you can sign up at our next meeting or email Meaghan Brown @
brownmea@mlhs.org.
3) Board Structure:
a. The following structured was voted on and approved by CAAN members present. For
more specific details on CAAN’s structure, and for position descriptions, please check out
the CAAN blog.
i. Executive Board- Hold All Voting Rights
ii. Steering Committee Members – Hold All Voting Rights
iii. Advisors – No Voting Power
iv. At-Large Members- No Voting Power
b. Board Members serve a 3 year term, with the option to renewed twice (1 year plus and
additional 2) for a total of 6 possible years of service
c. For the first 3 years, every board member will stay, after that some board members will
have longer terms than others and to preserve continuity and to bring new people in.
4) CAAN General Meetings
a. Will meet bi-monthly for 1 ½ hour meetings, rotating locations.
b. Board members are committed to attending all meetings, CAAN General Meetings include
Advisors and At-Large Members
5) The next meeting date will be announced February 2009.
Showcasing: Why, Where and How? PennPAT's Spring Artist Workshop is open to all Pennsylvania-based performing artists and groups, and will be offered in Philadelphia (April 16). For complete details and information on how to register, please visit their website.
