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 OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts