Wyoming’s Older Adults to Benefit from Creative Aging Project

Shortgo Posted On February 1, 2023

By 2030, older adults (55+) will be the dominant demographic group in the United States and institutions are adapting to meet their needs for meaningful engagement. A total of 132 public and county library systems in Wyoming and Missouri will develop and/or expand arts education programs that improve the lives of older adults through the Advancing Creative Aging Through State Library Leadership Initiative (2023-2025).

The Wyoming State Library (WSL) secured a $646,000 Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to support the $1.2 million project. The WSL will work in partnership with the Missouri State Library, Califa Group and Lifetime Arts to implement the three-year initiative.

“Wyoming is a beautiful state full of artistic inspiration,” said Wyoming State Librarian Jamie Markus. “We’re grateful our libraries will now have even more opportunity to bring arts education and enjoyment to our communities’ older patrons.”

Lifetime Arts will train and coach up to 250 librarians and library programmers in creative aging program planning, design, marketing, implementation and documentation. A total of 100 in-person and remote creative aging programs will serve up to 2,000 older adults in Wyoming and Missouri public libraries and build the case for long-term sustainability. Nationally, thousands more libraries and their staff will benefit through networking opportunities and the dissemination of the virtual self-paced course, Creative Aging Foundations On Demand.

The Wyoming State Library was first established in 1871 as the Wyoming Territorial Library. By statute, it is the official repository of state government documents and is responsible for the extension and development of library services statewide. The WSL manages the statewide WYLDcat library catalog, the GoWYLD research databases and electronic resources, and the Digital Collection Suite of Wyoming historical resources. Learn more about the WSL at library.wyo.gov.