Teachers College News: Aging Performers “Still Kicking”

At a recent gathering in midtown Manhattan, the actress Olympia Dukakis urged group of performers, most of them over age 65, to keep working as long as they’re able. “Don’t wait for the telephone. Take hold of your life with both hands!”

Dukakis was part of a program on June 9 at Jazz at Lincoln Center that showcased a new study by TC’s Research Center for Arts and Culture, in which most in the audience had taken part. The study, “Still Kicking: Aging Performing Artists in NYC and LA Metro Areas,” is based on interviews of actors, dancers, choreographers, musicians and singers in the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas, 65 and older, about their performing lives and the obstacles they face in continuing to work as they age.

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