About Stagebridge

Mission

To foster a vibrant community where all lifelong learners are celebrated and enriched through the performing arts.

Revision approved by the Stagebridge Board of Directors, September 2020

HISTORY

Stagebridge, based in Oakland, California, is the nation’s oldest and most renowned performing arts organization for older adults. Founded in 1978 by Dr. Stuart Kandell, the company’s mission is to foster a vibrant community where all lifelong learners are celebrated and enriched through the performing arts.

Through our mainstay program, the Performing Arts Institute (PAI), leading Bay Area professional artists offer a variety of courses for in theater, acting, dance, storytelling, music and more. The classes provide both a lifelong learning spaces for older adults as well as performance opportunities at the end of every quarterly session. Additionally, Stagebridge has produced several performances, multidisciplinary events, and musicals putting creative aging first.

As students and instructors connect the PAI, the Seniors Reaching Out program offers access to performing arts and hands-on classes to community venues that serve both active and frail elders. Whether it’s the musical revue Never Too Late or healing arts exploring memory care, movement and embodiment practices, Stagebridge paves the way for our community members to perform and provide for their communities.

Through public showcases, theatrical productions and outreach performances, Stagebridge presents 600+ workshops, performances and events annually for over 25,000 people of all ages. Stagebridge has commissioned and produced new theatrical works that explore the rich and varied experience of seniors from veteran professional playwrights.  The company has created over 35 original works, performing for more than 350,000 people throughout our history in senior centers, hospitals, schools and theatres.

Within our Storytelling Programs, Stagebridge has cultivated community-engaged artists with access to a variety of performance opportunities through programming, partnerships and special events. As our intergenerational program Grandparent’s Tales came to a close, Storybridge has evolved as a way for elders to world with K-6 children across the San Francisco Bay Area. This program works concurrently with our Performing Arts Institute to provide an applied learning format for Stagebridge students. As of 2021, we currently are work four school districts throughout the area.

We now are introducing our Finding Ourselves in America, a Stagebridge series highlighting BIPOC voices through storytelling partnerships with artists from Oakland and beyond. In May 2021, our first event highlighted Asian & Pacific Islander narratives through a partnership with Asian American Storytellers in Unity. Additionally, we have received funding from California Humanities to establish a Black elder storytelling program in conjunction with Oakland Public Library. Working with community partners, we are expanding our program to prioritize older voices in new, exciting and engaging methods.

Stagebridge is the winner of the 2019 Masonic Homes of California’s John A. Charland Innovation Luminary Award, 2013 MetLife Foundation Creative Aging Award, and the 2009 American Society on Aging MetLife MindAlert Award.  The company’s work has been featured on ABC‐TV, CNN, National Public Radio, in The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, Modern Maturity, Oakland Magazine, Storytelling Magazine and at national and regional conferences.