CREATIVITY IN THE THIRD AGE

Sa？etak The starting point for this research lies in the fact that the society is getting older and thus the number of elderly people is increasing. In addition, the third age, which is the subject of this research, becomes neglected in society and is threatened by social isolation. This paper seeks to emphasize the importance of incorporating these people into social events and through the analysis of collected data shows the usefulness of this age group through creative work. In this context, the author explores information from the personal and professional life of 20 distinguished creative people of the third age who left their mark, and continued to work creatively in the age of old. Five native and 15 foreign people were analysed. The sample was selected on the basis of two criteria. The first criterion is age; all of these creative “old people” lived and worked after the age of 65, which is taken as a transition year into the old age. The second criterion is that their profession has three important factors; autonomy, competence and freedom (Fujiwara, Dolan and Lawton, 2015). The analyzed data was collected from the Encyclopaedia Britannica as a relevant source of information. The research found that creativity influences the creation of a positive image of aging in society and that the third age is important for improving creativity