The Wisconsin Arts Board, TimeSlips, The Aging & Disability Resource Center of Central Wisconsin and the Hmong American Center are looking for community members to be apart of a grant funded art project. (Photo courtesy of the Hmong American Center and Facebook).
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — A new virtual art project that connects local artists with older adults are seeking applications in Central Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Tele-Stories is a project run by the state’s Wisconsin Arts Board and TimeSlips to connect artists with older adults in their community to tell their stories. After a successful project in the Milwaukee area, the art project is coming to Central Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Arts Board and TimeSlips have partnered with Wausau-based The Aging & Disability Resource Center of Central Wisconsin (ADRC) and the Hmong American Center to recruit both artists and older adults for the project.
ADRC Community Resource Manager Erin Wells says the project will be conducted over a period of 8 weeks completely by phone. “It’ll be kind of that planned phone call one time a week. And the phone calls are estimated to be around 30 minutes.
“And they are looking at getting started in [late] April and finishing up and getting the art projects completed in June. So they’re going to have one artist work with ten adults and another artist work with ten adults and create a finished project at the end of it.
“They’re looking at doing some kind of showcase at the end of it so that the community can see what these tele-stories can do for the community,”.
Throughout the eight weeks of phone conversations, the hired local artists will put together an art piece that uses the stories as inspiration. Wells says the two Wausau-based organizations were happy to partner for the project due to its unique format.
“We thought this is something different. And this is something that a lot of older adults, their creativity, that side of themselves can sometimes be forgotten. And it’s such a wonderful way to connect with parts of the community that maybe haven’t traditionally worked with older adults in the past,”.
The program is accepting artists and older adults from Brown, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, and Wood counties. Artists’ applications for the program are due by April 1st to the Wisconsin Arts Board.
Older adults interested in participating in the program are encouraged to reach out to either the Aging & Disability Resource Center or the Hmong American Center. The ADRC can be reached at 1-888-486-9545. The Hmong American Center can be reached at 715-842-8390.
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