Innovation 80 supports art programs unite younger and older generations, fostering creativity, teamwork, and life skills. Founders Arnie and Carol Kanter aim to break down barriers, making a lasting impact on under-served communities.
And now a unique organization in Chicago is making a difference by supporting arts-based
programs in underserved populations. They choose programs that build life skills such as
self-confidence, creativity, teamwork, and persistence. NTD's Daniel Monaghan speaks
with the founders of Innovation 80. He thinks we could do more. Arnie and Carol Cantor were
chatting over dinner with a friend. They had supported some art projects they liked in the
past, but the idea to do more began gnawing at them. The friend agreed and the journey of
Innovation 80 began. Their main focus these days is supporting programs that bring younger and
older generations together to create art. One they support is with the Chicago West Community Music
Center called Reimagining the Blues. They put together some of their students with some of the
older people in their community that they knew were interested in music.
And each couple, each pair, studied a blues artist. And then they picked a song or a piece of music
that they could reimagine and performed at the final program of this organization. And the whole
community seemed to turn out for it. It was very exciting. After the program, a woman came up to
Carol Cantor and shared a heartfelt message. Thank you for supporting this program. My son is autistic
and this is the best thing that's ever happened to him. Arnie Cantor says programs that bring the
young and old together are especially important because there are too many barriers that keep
them apart. And we're trying to break down in a small way some of those barriers because we think
that ageism is a significant diversity issue that needs to be recognized and addressed.
And there have been studies that show that the way younger people view older people
from a very early age has an effect on their own mental and physical development.
Innovation 80 has supported about 40 organizations since its founding about five years ago,
including about 15 co-generational programs over the past year. One program does fabric art.
So younger and older people getting together to do art that has to do with sewing or
pool or some kind of art making that involves fabric. Another is called Once Upon a Time Capsule.
Older and younger people have a particular topic, like this year it was journeys,
and they talk about their journeys or do a painting or song or something about a journey.
And then it's put into a time capsule that's closed at the end of the year to be reopened in
10 years. A program they are currently planning to fund does the art of DJing across generations.
We've done glassblowing. We've done dancing for disabled people. We've done theater for
young people on the spectrum. I mean, we've taken a very expansive view of the arts.
Young people who have had a brush with the law are the focus of another program
Innovation 80 supports. Story Catchers does involve juveniles who are involved with the
prison system, and they help them tell their stories, and then they help them
set them to music. So it becomes a musical. Very cool. Innovation 80 has brought magic to many
parts of Chicago while transforming its founders journey. They've explored new areas of the city
and built rewarding relationships with people they might never have met otherwise.
Daniel Monahan, NTD News.
