The Elders Share The Arts (ESTA) on South Oxford Street in Brooklyn aims to benefit the elderly in the community through participation in the arts.
NEW YORK—The Office of Elders Share The Arts (ESTA) on South Oxford Street in Brooklyn is diminutive, with barely enough space for its three mostly part-time employees. From these humble environs Executive Director Jennie Smith-Peers works to expand the programs of ESTA. Peers aims to benefit the elderly in the community through participation in the arts.
“Art moves people to become a better version of themselves,” she said, stating the core ideas guiding her work. Through art, people “have a stronger sense of who they are and what they want,” she said. “It can allow people to see a different parts of the community in a way that is healing.”
Peers, a devout workaholic, can often be found at her office even on Sundays, as was the recent case. Alone in her office with the shutters closed to block out the sun; the tiny office appears even smaller.
At the young age of 32 Peers is the executive director of a nonprofit organization offering art programs to the elderly, in order to help them share their stories and knowledge. Ironically, she too is sometimes the victim of ageism, the same social ailment she works to prevent. “My age is my handicap, for sure,” she said.
“I brush it off,” she stated decisively. “I know at the end of the day that I am good at my job. I feel confident”
For Peers, being the executive director of an organization working both in the arts and with the community is the fulfillment of her life’s passions.
Just out of college she organized homeless people at a drop-in center to write and act in a play about their lives. The project took three months to complete and the makeshift company preformed the play twice in a local church. Both nights were sold out. “It showed me how powerful art can be,” said Peers.
In 2004 she moved from Nashville to New York City to pursue a career as a performing artist, but for Peers, “[Performing] was never fulfilling,” she said. After realizing that she missed the type of work she did with the homeless, she sought a master’s degree in Drama Therapy.
She spent some time working “on the ground” and then Peers found that her passion was more in the administration of setting up new programs to reach communities. After “wishing upon a star,” she said with a smile, she got the job as executive director of ESTA.
Now, just over a year after assuming the position, she is planning the organization’s next steps, trying to increase the center’s programs and also share her knowledge with other organizations.
