ARTISTIC WORKSHOPS IN THE OPEN UNIVERSITY FOR SENIORS: CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIFE’S QUALITY OF ELDERLY

Abstract

This article presents an experience of university extension with artistic workshops in Open University for Seniors (UATI) from the State University of Center-West (Irati – PR). Over two and a half years of extension experience, various activities about theater and music were developed and the most important point of this intervention was the creation and presentation of a skit submitted by the workshops’ participants. The result is considered positive, since it is in accordance with considerations of many authors who detach the need to break up with the idea of an inactive elderly when it is lived in interaction groups. Likewise, the artistic workshops were meaningful to corroborate these research findings, as well as they allowed the participants to visualize their creation and to be satisfied with the results, thereby believing in their potentials. Thus, projects of that nature seem to be an interesting alternative to the maintenance of the elder community’s quality of life.