Digital Art Making with FiftyForward

From September 2023 through May 2024, the Frist Art Museum presented a series of digital art workshops for participants ages 55 and older in partnership with FiftyForward and supported by a Vitality Arts grant from E. A. Michelson Philanthropy. FiftyForward, a key Middle Tennessee provider of programs and services for older adults, hosted the workshops at six of their locations.

Participants learned digital art-making skills and new forms of creative expression while becoming more comfortable with technology, developing community and personal connections, and engaging more closely with Frist exhibitions and programs.

Each workshop comprised eight 90-minute sessions, during which participants developed art-making skills using tablets equipped with digital illustration software. Under the guidance of professional teaching artists, Amber Lelli, Josh Shearon, and Alison Underwood, participants explored themes of identity, and made digital zines—informal, self-published booklets of images and text.

This exhibition includes works created by more than 60 participants in all six workshops.i