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We Are All Aging Artists
And we should be proud of that
A recent panel discussion I witnessed got me thinking about aging artists. It occurred to me that all of the writers who contribute to Crow’s Feet are aging creative artists. And we should be proud of that.
“Age as Viewed Through Music and Arts” was one of the fascinating sessions at the 2025 Century Summit presented by the Stanford Center on Longevity. The moderator, Mike Kinney, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Stanford Center on Longevity, was joined by two panelists: Andrea Charise, Acting Associate Vice-Principal of Research and Innovation at the University of Toronto in Scarborough, Canada and Tiffany Neiman, Director of Music Industry Programs at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
All three panelists addressed prejudice against aging artists from their individual perspectives. I was struck by some of the specific comments. For example, Tiffany Neiman asked, “Why do we keep forcing youth as the framework for making music… Why are those voices the only voices that are valued? Is there not wisdom in the music of aging people…?”
Neiman referred to a speech given by Madonna when she was selected as Billboard’s Woman of the Year in 2016. In it, Madonna called out both misogynism and ageism, suggesting that the attitude toward women in the music industry is…
