Age & Opportunity

Age & Opportunity is the leading national development organisation working to enable the best possible quality of life for us all as we age. We do this by:

• Championing the creativity and value of older people;
• Combating stereotypes and negative views of ageing;
• Developing inclusive and engaging experiences which respond to the interests and needs of the diverse older adult population;
• Developing, testing and measuring the impact of pioneering programmes and approaches;
• Making evidence available to policy-makers and service providers;
• Working with partners and stakeholders to ensure that Ireland’s policies, strategies and programmes are directly informed by the needs and experiences of older people. We work with a multitude of public and private partners such as government departments, local authorities, health services, universities, community groups, arts and culture organisations and local sports groups to provide opportunities for older people to be more active; more visible; more creative; more connected; more confident; more often.

Mission / Aims

Our Arts Programme provides opportunities for older people to be more creative more often, to create meaningful participation and representation for all older people in cultural and creative life and to demonstrate and celebrate how our creative potential can improve with age.

Areas of activities

Bealtaine Festival
Bealtaine is Ireland’s national festival which celebrates the arts and creativity as we age. It is a month long festival in May featuring performances, exhibitions, discussions, workshops and readings by artists working in different art forms all over Ireland. Bealtaine Festival aims to provide:

• Greater participation and representation of older people in the arts
• Inclusive arts programmes for diverse older people
• Intergenerational exchange
• Debate and discourse around key cultural issues impacting on older people.

Development initiatives
Age & Opportunity Arts Development initiatives aim to support arts audiences, artists, organisations and arts practice in relation to the arts and ageing. We run a number of initiatives which can be sourced here: https://ageandopportunity.ie/arts/