Open Age is a charity that provides 350+ diverse weekly activities for older Londoners. Open Age’s programme has three broad categories – Arts, Culture & Social, Learning & Skills, and Physical Activities. Each session acts as an entry-point into a supportive and resilient community of 4,500 members aged 50 to 104, and FUN is at the centre of Open Age’s philosophy.

Since March 2020 and after three weeks of trial sessions with around 90+ Open Age members, the team at Open Age swiftly created a remotely accessible version of the existing programme; from 0 to 100+ hours of telephone and Zoom activities in a month. Members can choose between a diverse range of Arts, Culture & Social, Learning & Skills, and Physical activities, all of which have been tailored to support older people to maintain their emotional wellbeing and physical health from the safety and security of their own homes. Over 1500 members have engaged with this programme so far and 300+ members have been upskilled onto Zoom.

Open Age believes the arts are socially binding, a blank canvas for connection with others, stitching together a local community to present new opportunities. Members who attend art classes across the three boroughs in which we currently operate are exhibiting their work via this Digital Platform, with their new-found digital confidence, a new skill or even a new hobby, but most of all to showcase their shared creativity.

For more information, please visit www.openage.org.uk