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From The Times Record, April 16, 2007

BY GLORIA SMITH

BRUNSWICK

 Bringing generations together so that the old and the young can share
stories and experiences, and perhaps work on joint programs and projects,
sounds like a wonderful idea. It really is wonderful, and it's more than an
idea   it's happening.

   A recent story on the front page of the New York Times described an
81-year-old teacher named Arnold Blume who continues to work as a
substitute teacher more than two decades after he actually retired. I
learned from reading the article that about ten percent of the nation's
substitutes are retired teachers like Mr. Blume, although there have been
no studies to determine how many of them are over 80.

   The article's author Paul Vitello describes Mr. Blume as  a sort of
older person in residence, an on-call doctor of memory." He quotes the
school's principal as saying that Arnold Blume  brings something to our
school that no one else brings. He gives the kids a sense of the reality of
the past."

   But wait! Generations are coming together right here in Brunswick, ever
since People Plus inaugurated an Intergenerational Art Group in
mid-January. The new entity is one of the first steps in establishing a
Community for All Ages, a new movement designed to strengthen links between
all age groups in the Brunswick area, that will be a first for Brunswick
and for the state of Maine!

   The group's formation can be attributed to two young men named Wilson,
neither of whom is related. Rick Wilson is the service learning/school to
career coordinator at Brunswick High School. Seth Wilson, a graduate
student in social work at the University of New England, is finishing a
year's internship at People Plus Center on Noble Street in Brunswick.

   Seth Wilson told me recently that the idea came as a result of
attending several meetings of Community For All Ages.  I decided that I
wanted to do something that would actually work," he said. So he got
together with Rick Wilson at the high school. The two brainstormed. Seth
told Rick how impressed he was with all the artistic talent and
opportunities in Mid-coast Maine, and how nice it would be to bring older
and younger artists together as an intergenerational group. Rick agreed and
found a number of Brunswick High art students willing to join. Some members
of the art classes taught by Connie Bailey at People Plus also signed on to
the group.

   One of the high school students is a co-chairwoman of Community for All
Ages; her mother is part of the new art group; and the members from People
Plus range from 60 years on up. So, as Seth Wilson says:  More than several
generations are represented here, including Rick and myself."

   The group meets every other Monday for about 2 hours at member Ed
McCartan's studio in Fort Andross, where they have been preparing work for
a show called  Community Art." According to Seth Wilson,  the work is
centered around what community means to each of the artists, and we see it
as a way of bringing the generations together."

   The show opens April 25, at the Frontier Cafe in Fort Andross, with a
public reception from five to six-thirty p.m. Arrangements were made by
Marlise Swartz, Director of Marketing at Mid Coast Senior Health Center. A
member of the Community For All Ages board, Swartz sees this show as a
launch project for the new endeavor.

   And Rick Wilson from Brunswick High describes it this way:  The
students have been dedicated and committed to this project for a reason..
The art studio where the group meets is terrific and the opportunity to
have connections with the generations is more important to them than the
production of the art is. I have a feeling that the older generation feels
the same way too."

   Everyone involved in the new Intergenerational Art Group believes that
seeing Community for All Ages in action is an exciting opportunity and the
beginning of good intergenerational relationships to come.

   After hanging at the Frontier Cafe for a week, the show will move on to
Brunswick High School, People Plus and perhaps several other venues like
the Curtis Memorial Library.