https://youtu.be/AdHsLrBxjoI At Citizen University, both teens and adults are deeply involved in strengthening civic culture. But when all ages met, both young and older were a bit uneasy. They wondered how they could best work together. How could they tap the talents...
Our task, as we understood it, was to get teen leaders involved in Citizen University’s Youth Collaboratory excited about working alongside adults to create change — what we call cogeneration. As it turns out, teens in the program were already excited about...
When CoGenerate and Citizen University launched a project to deepen cogenerational ties, our goal was to get teens excited about working alongside older adults to create change. What we discovered surprised us. Teens didn’t need convincing to work across generations....
In an episode of this season of Hacks, the Emmy-winning intergenerational comedy, the older comedian Deborah Vance returns to her alma mater (UC Berkeley) to receive an honorary degree. Shortly after arriving, a video containing offensive jokes she delivered early in...
What does cogeneration in a thriving, multigenerational society look like? After more than a century of age segregation in this country, it’s hard to imagine.
That’s one reason why, in our 25th year, we teamed up with Fine Acts, a global creative studio for social impact. Together, we asked 25 artists from around the world to paint a new picture of intergenerational connection and collaboration.
We hope this diverse and dazzling collection will move you, make you think and smile, and inspire you to pursue cogeneration in your own life.
Most important, we hope you’ll use this powerful collection. You can use and adapt any of the illustrations and symbols free of charge.
All the works are published under an open license on The Greats, a unique platform from Fine Acts for free social-impact art, so that anyone—including educators, activists and non-profits globally—can use them. These works are licensed under a Creative Commons license that allows free use and adaptation, as long as you always credit the artist and never use the art for commercial purposes.
The collection features more than 50 artworks. To build it, we commissioned 20 artists from around the world to create works illustrating cogeneration. We asked 9 artists to create symbols that represent intergenerational connection. And we issued a global open call for existing works, receiving 91 submissions by 47 artists. We selected five of these for the final collection.
The collection is a tool nonprofits, activists and citizens anywhere can use to call for — and build — a world where older and younger people come together to solve problems, bridge divides and co-create the future.
Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be showcasing these artworks on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Please follow us there to enjoy the illustrations, learn more about the artists, and share the art with your friends.
And please, download the art here for your use.
About CoGenerate
We were founded 25 years ago as Civic Ventures with the idea that the growing, older population was less a problem to be solved than an opportunity to be seized. In 2012, we became Encore.org to put a name on the years beyond midlife and imbue them with social purpose. Today, as CoGenerate, we focus on what the vast (and still growing) older population can do in collaboration with younger generations to solve our nation’s most pressing problems. For more about our history, read this.