The work and stories from a number of seniors will be featured in a show at the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre this weekend.
The show’s host, Aiden Flynn, notes working in the arts professionally doesn’t come with a set retirement age, nor does it come with a pension, adding artists’ incomes can fluctuate significantly.
That means a lot of older artists continue to work well into their senior years, and it’s not always easy, says Flynn.
He says artists work “almost as independent contractors, essentially they’re freelancers.”
Flynn says as artists get older, the pressures of work are still there and “the resources that are required to get you through are difficult to come by when you’re in your mid-career or your emerging career. So you can imagine the added responsibility, the added pressure of having those resources at your fingertips when you’re older.”
Newfoundland Stories Woven Through the Lens of Seniors Artists takes place in the Barbara Barrett Theatre at the Arts and Culture Centre on Saturday and Sunday. It will feature the works of Geoff Adams, Lawrence Barry, Helena Eleume, George Masswohl, Jillian Rees-Brown and Bernie Stapleton.
Proceeds from the show will go toward the formation of a local chapter of the PAL Canada Foundation, a national charitable organization dedicated to support older and disadvantaged members of the arts and entertainment community.
