Andrea Smith can’t help but bob her head and smile as she walks the hall of Senior Action’s Greenville headquarters on E. North Street. The jazz band is practicing in the music studio, cranking out an infectious beat that’s hard to ignore. It’s a dream come true for Senior Action’s Executive Director and CEO. The arts have long-fueled Andrea’s soul and professional passion.
As a teen, she attended the Fine Arts Center of Greenville, taking music lessons from none other than the legendary Virginia Uldrick. As a graduate, she headed west to Waco, to enroll in Baylor University’s heralded music program. Across every step of life, the arts have anchored the 53-year-old’s mental and physical well-being. Recognizing the importance of creativity and socialization, since taking over Senior Action in 2007, Andrea’s increased accessibility to the arts for thousands of Greenville County’s older citizens. Join us on a tour of Senior Action’s newest facility that’s hitting its one-year anniversary this month.
Q&A with Senior Action’s Andrea Smith
This place is amazing! It’s bright and airy and there’s so much going on.
Thank you. It took seven years for this new space to come true. We have such a vibrant arts community in Greenville, and we pour into our young people, but not across an adult’s lifespan. This is what we needed to deliver the arts to every generation. Your whole lifespan should be building and encouraging. Greenville now does that and it’s complete, by having this center here.
Was it a hard sell, to raise the $7.6 million to buy the shopping center and convert it to usable space for seniors?
We serve anyone over 55. That number is growing exponentially in Greenville County. We have an obligation as human beings, and as a community, to keep everyone has healthy as possible. The healthcare system is not equipped to manage the aging if we don’t. Medicare did a very compelling study of people who are socially engaged versus those who are isolated. The isolated utilize $6 billion more in healthcare costs than those who are engaged.
Talk about engagement. The center offers such an array of activities, everything from ballroom dancing and wine pairings, to book club and ukulele classes.
The pottery class is one of my favorites. We have a kiln and pottery wheels. That can be a really expensive hobby at home, so, it’s great to see people taking these classes here and learning something new.
I love our music program, we have concerts, ukulele, and jazz bands. The concert band is huge and performs all over Greenville. Sometimes folks will just be in the music studio having jam sessions.
Since opening a year ago, this center has added a significant number of fine arts classes that run 12-weeks in length, and many are headed by college-level instructors. Why did you bring in the big guns to teach?
Many artists do their best work in their senior years. Martha Graham was still choreographing dance until her 90s; John Williams is still writing music. It’s hard to say when looking at these famous people if it takes them that long to get good at what they do, or if art prolongs their life.
When people hit 55, they have more time, more resources. It’s the perfect stage to engage in creative outlets and they want top quality.
Senior Action uses half of the shopping center, and in a stroke of brilliance, it rents the rest to help with the budget.
We doubled our space here in the new center.
We now have space dedicated individually to the arts, movement and dance, and the music studio. We have art gallery exhibit space.
We also have a 460-seat conference center. It’s really surprised me how many people have reached out to rent space here for special events for work functions, weddings. The Nutcracker was here in December. The rentals have way surpassed my expectations.
And yes, the retail tenants on the other side of the center help us meet budget.
Is that ballet over there?
Yes! It’s a group of ladies who danced together as children and they’re now in their 70s and are dusting off old skills in an intermediate class. The ability to reconnect with arts at whatever stage you’re in is wonderful.
In addition to the E. North Street location, Senior Action hosts activities at eight other centers across Greenville County. For a list of locations and programs, go to SeniorAction.org.
Photography by Will Crooks
