Right now, Canada has more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 15, and in 40 years, seniors will make up one quarter of the country’s population.

Terms like “silver tsunami” alongside headlines like “Baby boom to ageing gloom” indicate the negative light that is often cast onto this demographic shift. However, not everyone views our ag

Right now, Canada has more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 15, and in 40 years, seniors will make up one quarter of the country’s population.

Terms like “silver tsunami” alongside headlines like “Baby boom to ageing gloom” indicate the negative light that is often cast onto this demographic shift. However, not everyone views our ageing population this way. Instead, many are imagining the creative potential of such a population.

On August 25, Concordia will host Age 3.0, a fair to explore the multiple intersections of innovation, the creative economy, emerging technologies and ageing.

The event is co-organized by the Ageing + Communication + Technologies (ACT) Project, a research group directed by communication studies professor Kim Sawchuk, and Communautique, a hub dedicated to learning, collaboration, research and experimentation in social and technological innovation.

The event will also include participation from local businesses and community organizations and the purpose of the day is to provide a space for conversations about creative ways people are thinking about growing older.

Age 3.0 is open to academics, businesses, students and the general public alike. It will bring together researchers working on the topic of ageing from fields such as architecture, communication studies, psychology, education and fine arts to speak on panels about the ways university research can foster creative and complex approaches to ageing processes that challenge normative or stereotypical understandings of later life. A poster session will showcase the projects of graduate students from around the world.Throughout the day, Concordia’s Black Box theatre will feature lively community art interventions created by seniors organizations through collaborative research, and will feature groups and projects such as Respecting Elders: Communities Against Abuse (RECAA), the St-Henri Art Hive, The Yellow Door and the Atwater Library and Computer Centre.

Live performances, knit-ins and multimedia presentations will occupy the Black Box theatre space (EV Building – S3.845) and visitors will be invited to interact with the installations. The ground floor of Concordia’s Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (EV Building) will be home to kiosks hosted by companies and research groups working to bring ageing to the forefront of public, commercial and academic discourses.

Age 3.0 takes place on August 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the atrium of the EV Building of Concordia University in Montreal at 1515 Saint Catherine St. W. The event is free and open to the public. More information about the day’s events is available here. You can register at the fair for free here. 

This article was written by Kendra Besanger and Constance Lafontaine and originally published on the Concordia University website.