Legacy Art Work
2015 marks the 10th year of the Legacy Art Work program, based on the concept of using the arts to help senior citizens, an idea that was originally brought over from the United States. The Legacy Art Work program allows senior citizens to create and to use the visual arts to record life as they experience it, past, present, and future. With professional instructors to guide group activities and volunteers to work with them individually, seniors can have more positive interaction with their loved ones and other young people, and they can use art to express a lifetime’s worth of experiences and memories. In addition, in 2010 New Life Art Company was established, a social enterprise solely focused on promoting Legacy Art Work and the ideas that it stands for, thereby providing senior citizens with an even greater quality of life.
The Legacy Art Work Group
Legacy Art Work program has continued to serve communities in a number of different ways. Within the Legacy Art Work group there are numerous subgroups operating at eighty-one different nursing homes, senior citizens’ centers, and other similar institutions. Moreover, in cooperation with the New Taipei City Municipal Library, and held a special exhibition of their achievements in the new main library building on May. To date, the Legacy Art Work group has already provided services to more than 11,700 senior citizens.
Leadership Training and Volunteer Recruitment
Two leadership training courses were held every year since 2007, with a total of 153 participants who began the course as trainees and finished as qualified leaders in their own right. The courses consisted of several programs, including classes on theory, as well as practical internships, international certification, and monthly oversight and supervision. Additionally, volunteer recruiting sessions, training seminars, and advanced arts and crafts courses have been regularly held since 2011, in order to better meet manpower needs. Over the past three years, over 430 volunteers have been recruited, and together they have donated more than 4,600 hours of their time to local communities.
International Interaction
In 2016, Legacy Art Work team was invited by Singapore to run a Creative Aging workshop sponsored by National Council of Social Service, and demonstrated the practical method to local social workers. The team also joint workshops with Japanese partners to discuss digital art by using cell phone. ted by Singapore to run. In September of 2016, the Legacy Art Work team traveled to Washington D.C. to take part in a conference hosted by the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA). Aside from sharing their 10 years’ worth of experience, the team was also able to exchange ideas with other charitable organizations from around the world, gaining valuable insight and access to diverse perspectives.
Shin Kong Life Foundation
Since its founding in 1983, the Shin Kong Life Foundation (SKLF) has held fast to the aim of using society’s existing resources to better that society, and it continues to promote public good in keeping with the spirit its founder, Mr. Wu Ho-Su. Hosting philanthropic events, donating, and promoting public welfare are the purpose of the foundation, not simply the means to an end. Over the past thirty-one years the foundation has donated around NT$160 million to disaster relief efforts and an additional NT$150 million to support the families of first responders who died in the line of duty. In total, our accumulated donations have exceeded NT$300 million.
In addition to traditional disaster relief, the foundation works hand-in-hand with other non-profit organizations to foster development in three key areas: oral history, women’s health, and aboriginal education. Every year we continue to promote and improve our programs, and we continue to strive to not only better meet the needs of our communities, but also to further develop social welfare and culture.
SKLF is also committed to giving back to society through strategic philanthropy. The Shin Kong Volunteer Corps is one such example of this, born of the integration of Shin Kong’s corporate resources and manpower. The group takes a multi-faceted approach to providing support for disadvantaged and impoverished groups in society, and they also plan charitable projects for Shin Kong employees to participate in. Additionally, in 2015 the corps was recognized for its ability to bring people together to promote social welfare and was awarded the ‘Top-Performing Corporate Volunteer Organization Award’ by the Taipei Department of Social Welfare.
Aside from sponsorship of traditional public welfare projects, SKLF is also looking to become more involved in donating overseas. In 2016 we have continued to provide personnel and material support for the development of primary medical care infrastructure in Myanmar. In addition, we hope to make family medicine into a discipline requiring specialized training, with the goal of improving the overall quality of local medical care. Our social responsibilities and commitments are something that we value deeply, and we will continue to support our communities at every level, in whatever way possible. This in turn will help us put down roots and grow together with society, allowing us to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to charitable work.
New and Alive Art Service Company
Since its founding in 2010, the New and Alive Art Service Company has worked jointly with the Shin Kong Life Foundation to promote and carry out Legacy Art Works programs. By helping to popularize the concept of creative aging, it has assisted aging seniors in overcoming their loss of confidence and ability, lack of social participation, and negative outlook on the future. Surmounting these physical and psychological barriers to effective communication allows seniors a systematic way to reflect on their own lives while highlighting the joys and accomplishments. This in turn can give senior citizens the ability to look within themselves for the strength to face the difficulties of aging.
We utilize professional techniques and creative visual art to allow the elderly to directly record their own thoughts and their own stories. We also continue to encourage one-on-one companionship in our programs. Through interaction with others, seniors can rediscover themselves, and by reaffirming their own identity and values, they can find a new life goals and motivation.
At the same time as it provides programs for senior citizens, in the long term New and Alive Art Service is dedicated to creating a positive work environment for professionals involved in social services. While those in the helping professions tend to struggle alone and typically face relatively lower salaries and lower professional recognition, New and Alive Art Service’s efforts aim to provide them with a support network and a strong monitoring system so that they can build up one of their most important assets: experience. This in turn can help them deliver even more specialized care to the elderly. Despite the fact that wages for helping professionals remain stagnant, it is our hope that through their work they can find a different sort of reward, while at the same time helping senior citizens to enjoy their golden years to the fullest extent.
Contact us
Legacy Art Work
886-2-2389-5858 ＃3797
Shin Kong Life Foundation
886-2-2389-5858
New and Alive Art Service
886-2-2932-2111