Nostalgia is a dirty word for arts programmers

From rock concerts at wineries to day-time concerts at performing arts centres, programmers have found ways to engage ageing audiences respectfully.
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When we think of the sorts of audience who might attend performances at the senior-friendly time of mid-morning or a matinee, our minds usually leap to Baby Boomers, that post-war cohort born between 1946 and 1964 for who The Beatles and the Vietnam War were major cultural milestones, or their ageing parents.  

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts