Baring Foundation launches new report on the inclusion of older men in the arts

Today, the Foundation was pleased to launch a new report – Missing Out: Creative Ageing and Men, which asks why comparatively few older men take up creative opportunities.

As a funder of creative ageing for a decade from 2010-2019, we had long been aware that older men were much less likely to take part in the work we were funding than older women. 10 years later, we felt the situation was much the same, with low numbers and few targeted projects aimed at engaging more older men, so we decided to gather what brilliant examples we could find into this new report.

The report was curated by David Cutler and calls for more research, awareness-raising, leadership, partnerships (including for example between care homes and men’s sheds, examples of which are included in the report) and more commitment by funders to both creative ageing and the inclusion of older men.

The launch was attended by 80 participants and featured four of the organisations featured in the report.

The Foundation intends to commission some regional events to enable further discussion and sharing of practice on the inclusion of older men in participatory arts, so please watch this space!