More Than Candles on the Cake

Longer life spans have skewed our perception of aging and what it means to grow older.

As more Americans are living longer, fuller lives, they have concerns and need answers to questions that weren’t addressed a generation ago.

To meet those needs, a six-day event called “Lifespan: Exploring and Celebrating the New Longevity” will open Nov. 11 at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles.

Co-sponsors are the center and the UCLA Center on Aging.

On the agenda are seminars, workshops, art, lectures, exhibits, performances and a closing-day festival.

Daytime seminars, ranging from 30 minutes to more than an hour, will focus on public policy and aging, fiscal fitness, the status of Medicare, sex after 60, exercise and healthy aging, new images of aging and other topics.

Speakers include local experts on aging along with TV personality Art Linkletter.

Evening activities include “Curtain Call,” a film about the ambiguity of relationships between aging parents and middle-aged children, and a lecture by Ken Dychtwald, an authority on the lifestyle implications of an aging population.

Two one-act plays will also be performed, and feminist Betty Friedan will speak on “The Fountain of Age.”

An InterGenerational Festival for children, parents and grandparents will also be held.

Also on the schedule: classic films and original Superman cartoons; an open conversation hosted by Linkletter about grandparents and grandchildren; and performances by the Los Angeles Mandolin Orchestra, the LA Chinese Musicians Ensemble and Golden Dreams, a senior group.

A pass to the festival is $60. To order, call Tickets LA: (213) 660-8587.

For more information on the program and individual event prices, call the Skirball Cultural Center: (310) 440-4668.