Cottage Grove Place offers arts programming for residents

Kirsten Collins said one of her favorite parts of being life enrichment director at Cottage Grove Place in Cedar Rapids is interacting with the residents there.

“I find this to be really fun because I get to work with the residents instead of running the show,” she said. “We all work together to create programming. I think that’s really rewarding for them, and it’s fun for me too.”

Cottage Grove Place, 2115 First Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids, is a senior living community that offers independent living, assisted living, memory care, short-term rehabilitation and long-term care.

Ms. Collins has been in her role at Cottage Grove for two years. Previously, she served as activity coordinator at the Rehabilitation Center of Lisbon. She knows about creating engaging community programming, so when artistically-inclined Cottage Grove residents approached her about starting the Creative Arts Group, she thought it sounded like a great idea.

“We have a lot of residents who are retired art teachers, art professors and even a gentleman who still paints and has art exhibits downtown at some art galleries,” she said. “It was their idea to get it going and to include other members of our community and help them kind of express their creativity through different mediums.”

The newly-formed group is less than a year old, but is already one of the most well-attended, according to Ms. Collins. They meet monthly and explore art through showcasing, demonstrating and hands-on activities. Residents can try creating new forms of art as students or volunteer to teach about their expertise.

Ms. Collins said the group is “very low pressure” and everything from painting to quilting has been featured.

Lynda Black-Smith, an art teacher with 30 years of experience in elementary schools, is one of the residents that often leads the workshops for the group. She was recently featured in a blog post on Cottage Grove’s website.

“Some may feel hesitant because it’s been a while since they did art and think they need talent, but that’s not the case,” Ms. Black-Smith said in the post. “It’s about expressing ideas visually, through singing, writing or any form they like. We need to break down the boundaries of what ‘art’ is and envision things differently, which also helps the brain.”

According to a study done by the American Academy of Neurology, participants who engaged in arts in both middle and old age were 73% less likely to develop Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) than those who did not report engaging in artistic activities.

The study involved 256 people with an average age of 87 who reported their participation in activities such as painting, drawing, sculpting, woodworking, pottery, ceramics, quilting and sewing, among others.

Separate from the Creative Arts Group, Ms. Collins also coordinates a Reader’s Theater Club, which performs plays, skits and murder mysteries throughout the year. She said the program has been a big hit, a testament to Cottage Grove’s enthusiastic residents.

“They’re very involved, not just with activity programming, but just in the community as a whole,” Ms. Collins said. “Our residents are very involved in making Cottage Grove Place what it is, so it’s awesome.”

With growing popularity, expansion is in the future for these programs. She said participants in the Creative Arts Group are already thinking about summer and how they can bring new faces to teach workshops and showcase new art.

“Right now, it is our residents that are running the show, but we are looking at expanding into the community and seeing what outside resources we can use,” Ms. Collins said.