Six years and there’s still a lot left to do.
After six years championing the cultural contribution of older artists and creatives, CADA is closing on Friday 18th December 2026. We’re not going quietly. Before we close our doors, we’re handing the sector our Unfinished Business.
This essay, by researcher Dawn Cameron with our Co-chairs Elizabeth Lynch MBE and Arti Prashar OBE, tells the story of what CADA set out to do and what we achieved.
Above all, it sets out what still needs doing, and who needs to pick it up.
“We’re closing because the funding climate is extremely challenging, but that isn’t our story. The story is what’s left to do. Artists can do things other interventions can’t. They catalyse thinking, they hot-wire emotions, they galvanise action. Older artists bring a lens, a connection to their peers, and a lifetime of knowledge. When we write them off, we all lose something.” Elizabeth Lynch MBE, Co-chair
Why it matters
Older artists are already scarce in the funded arts. Arts Council England’s own figures show just 2% of artists in its National Portfolio Organisations are aged 65 and over.
Older people are not missing from culture. 48% of England’s arts audiences are aged 55 and over. But they are too often treated as audiences to serve rather than artists to invest in. Meanwhile funding has narrowed to the “sharp end” of ageing: dementia and care homes. That work matters, but it isn’t the whole picture.
The unfinished business
The essay hands the sector three calls to action:
1. Value creative ageing. Fund artists to emerge and re-emerge at every stage of life.
2. Stop confusing creative ageing with health. Ill health is not what defines ageing, and artists don’t exclusively make art to make people healthy.
3. Back diverse artistic leadership. Older artists from every background deserve to be seen, heard and paid.
In their own words, the essay draws on CADA’s Radical Acts of Creative Ageing fanzines, where older artists told us what needs to change.
“Can you tell me what stories you’ve never been allowed to tell?” Sita Brand, storyteller
“We have to remind ourselves that… our best isn’t done.” Tayo Akinbode, composer and musical director
“I’ve never had a job. I’m never going to retire from it.” Sunil Gupta MBE, photographer and activist
“A radical move is needed right now… It’s time for something serious, a radical shift.” Greta Mendez, dancer and choreographer
“A generation of artists in their sixties and beyond is coming through who want to be seen and heard, and they are not going to go quietly. But if there’s no organisation fighting that corner, people won’t do it, or won’t even investigate it. My appeal is to funders: creative ageing is not just care homes and dementia. Don’t write off older artists.” Arti Prashar OBE, Co-chair
Read it. Share it. Act on it.
Download Unfinished Business (PDF)
We believe society is richer when all older people are visible and valued, and when there are more pathways to emerge or re-emerge as a creative talent in later life. The baton is now yours.
CADA’s website will stay online as an archive of our research, fanzines and podcasts.
