The Indiana Arts Commission is excited to announce the Lifelong Arts Indiana Creative Aging Summit. Please save the date for March 23, 2026 from 10AM to 5PM ET.
The Summit, in partnership with the UIndy Center for Aging and Community, will be hosted at the University of Indianapolis campus in Indianapolis. This free, one-day in-person learning opportunity will bring together aging service providers, libraries, arts organizations, artists, and experts on creative aging to support expansion of arts learning for older adults in Indiana based on the Lifelong Arts Indiana model.
Summit participants will learn about creative aging and its impacts, participate in artist demonstrations, and access tools to begin planning creative aging programs using the Lifelong Arts Indiana model.
The full agenda is below:
| Time | Session and Details |
|---|---|
| 9:30 AM ET | Registration Opens |
| 10:00 AM ET | Welcome |
| 10:15 | Fireside Chat: Perspectives on Creative Aging Peggy Taylor, Lifelong Arts Indiana Artists Dr. Jon Kay, Associate Professor, Folklore and Ethnomusicology and Director of Traditional Arts Indiana, Indiana University |
| 11:00 AM ET | Movement Moment |
| 11:15 AM ET | Introduction to Creative Aging and the Impact of Lifelong Arts Indiana Eric Ashby, Director of Programs, Indiana Arts Commission Leah Jones, Project Director, UIndy Center for Aging & Community |
| 11:45 AM ET | Lunch |
| 12:35 PM ET | Lifelong Arts Indiana Creative Aging Alumni Panel |
| 1:20 PM ET | Movement Moment |
| 1:30PM ET | Using the Lifelong Arts Indiana Toolkit |
| 2:45 PM ET | Arts Programming Breakout Sessions with Lifelong Arts Indiana Artists Melissa Gallant, Harpist Paula Scott-Frantz, Fiber Artist Portia Jackson, Storyteller Peggy Taylor, Weaver and Textile Artist |
| 3:45 PM ET | Starting your Creative Aging Program |
| 4:45 PM ET | Closing Information: Additional Resources & Upcoming Funding Opportunities |
Registration is now closed.
For information about the Creative Aging Summit, please contact Anna Ross, Lifelong Arts Indiana Program Manager at AnRoss@iac.IN.gov.
Learn more about the Lifelong Arts Indiana Creative Aging Summit speakers and artists below.
 | Anna Ross has worked in various areas of arts administration and music performance for over 35 years. Most recently, she served as Executive Director of Audiences Unlimited, an arts organization in Fort Wayne, Indiana, that provides cultural and arts experiences for people with limited access to the arts. From long-term care facilities, to adult day centers for individuals with cognitive and developmental disabilities to community and senior centers, Anna champions partnerships between artists, arts and presenting organizations, and those experiencing the arts. She is skilled in inclusive program design, outcome evaluation, arts integration in education, and mentoring. Having earned a Master of Music degree, she enjoys performing viola with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. |
 | Eric Ashby is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has been a Hoosier since 2017. He brings a background in grants, strategic planning, nonprofit management, data analysis, and entrepreneurship to his work at the Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) as the Director of Programs. He holds a B.S. in Arts Management as well as a Masters in Arts Administration and a Masters in Public Affairs from the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington. Prior to joining the IAC, Eric has worked at the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement building engagement frameworks and programs to improve quality of place through arts and culture. Additionally, he worked as a project manager for the Arts Administration Program and Dean's Office at the O'Neill School. Eric also serves as a project specialist with Bridgeway Capital supporting efforts to track and support small creative business development. Outside of work, Eric is a drummer, playing since the age of 3. |
 | Jon Kay is an associate professor of Folklore at Indiana University and the Director of Traditional Arts Indiana (TAI), the state's folk and traditional arts program. A public scholar, he curates exhibitions, develops programs, and produces documentary films. Kay researches late-life creativity and is the author of Folk Art and Aging: LifeStory Objects and Their Makers (2016), The Expressive Lives of Elders: Folklore, Art, and Aging (2018), Memory, Art, and Aging (2020), and Everyday Arts in Later Life (2024). Jon received Indiana University's Mary Burgan Distinguished Service Award in 2023 and an IU Bicentennial Medal in 2020. A fellow of the American Folklore Society, he was awarded the Society's 2025 Benjamin A. Botkin Prize in recognition of his many years of public folklore work. |
 | Leah Jones, Project Director at the University of Indianapolis' Center for Aging & Community (CAC), earned her B.S. in Recreation Management from Indiana State University and her Masters in Healthcare Management from the University of Indianapolis. Leah has spent her career conducting both micro-and macro-level work with older adults and adults with disabilities in both healthcare and community-based environments. Leah's passion for quality of care and quality of life throughout the lifespan and her understanding of health as a holistic concept that embraces physical, emotional, and social measures led her to the CAC. |
 | Liz Monnier was a founding member of the Fort Wayne Dance Collective (FWDC) in 1979 and served as its Artistic Director until 2015. Since FWDC's founding, Liz has taught on-site and outreach classes as well as choreographed for FWDC's productions and touring company. She is a graduate of Indiana University and was presented a John Endwright Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 2006. Liz has been awarded many lifetime achievement awards specifically highlighting her work with people with disabilities and continues to teach a variety of programs including Qigong, Bones for Life®, and Dancing in Your Seat. Liz graduated from the Seattle Eastside Feldenkrais® training program in 2015 and is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner. She is a certified Music Together® teacher as well as certified to teach Dance for Parkinson's Disease. |
 | Growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Melissa Gallant fell in love with the harp as a seventh grader and has been playing it for audiences young and old ever since. She studied with world renowned harpist Susann McDonald at Indiana University, then pursued a master's degree at Butler University. Melissa performs regularly with the Indiana Wind Symphony and the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, serving as principal harpist for both organizations. She is pleased to partner with organizations like Arts for Learning, the Carmel Center for the Performing Arts and the LSO in presenting community and educational programs. Melissa has been a fellow with the Lifelong Arts Indiana program, an initiative of the Indiana Arts Commission. She received a 2003 Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from Indy Arts Council and has been awarded two of the Council's Public Arts for Neighborhoods grants. |
 | Melissa Washburn serves as Program Director for Art Barn School of Art in Valparaiso, Indiana, where she oversees educational programs in the visual arts for adults, families, and children, and manages numerous outreach programs and partnerships with other area nonprofits. She earned her Masters in Arts Administration from Indiana University, Bloomington, and for many years ran her own illustration and graphic design business. |
 | Paula Scott-Frantz tries to create fiber art that transcends disciplines. Her creative process is unique and unexpected in that she allows wool and other materials to lead the way to their creation. Following, flowing with, and choosing to guide the organic rhythms of the various materials leads to inventive and ever-fresh expression of her feelings or thoughts. Paula's workshops and classes are presented for artists interested in using fiber art in their mediums. Paula teaches art at Newfields Museum of Art, St. Vincent's Cancer Care Center, and Indianapolis Marion County Public Library. She also gives private workshops and was a two-time recipient of the Lifelong Arts Program grant. |
 | Peggy Taylor creates handwoven textiles inspired by those of the 18th century, using natural fibers to interpret and weave from historic drafts. Her work is consistently listed in Early American Life magazine's national Directory of Traditional Craftsmen and she is a 2025 Heritage Award Artisan with Traditional Arts Indiana. She conducts classes and workshops in weaving and textiles for creative aging as well as for a wide range of age groups and locations through programs funded through the Indiana Arts Commission. |
 | Portia Jackson is a community-driven educator, artist, storyteller, mother and foster parent, and youth mentor. As an IU graduate and educator for 40 years, she had a 35-year career at the Indianapolis Children's Museum serving as the resident Storyteller and Educational Consultant. Before retiring, Portia developed programs for schools, families, celebrations, and events through community programs. She takes pride in serving the community, founding "The Freedom House - Child Development Center," a culturally based program with education at its core, and working as the founding director of "The Freedom Train," a storytelling troupe focused on African and African-American history through stories and songs. |
 | Stephanie Haines is the Founder and CEO of Prismatic, a consultancy delivering research-based arts and creativity interventions for older adults. With 20 years of experience, Stephanie holds a B.S. in Arts Education from the University of Indianapolis and a Masters in Arts Administration from Indiana University. During her eight years at the Indiana Arts Commission, she created Lifelong Arts Indiana, a nationally recognized creative aging program, and conducted original research demonstrating the significant impact of arts participation on older adults' physical and mental well-being. Stephanie is committed to providing aging services organizations with meaningful, evidence-informed creative programming that creates real, measurable change. |
Indiana Arts Commission