The Heritage Center at The J officially relaunched to become Heritage: Lifelong Learning for Adults 55+.
At Heritage’s annual open house event, Heritage Director Sandra Greason shared with attendees that the program has expanded to include adults over the age of 55 and now offers new programming to encourage lifelong learning for a broader age range.
“We have always served a wide range of ages and offered great activities,” Greason said. “These changes came after many months of work from a dedicated task force, and with this change in eligibility, we hope to be even more inclusive.”
The open house gave new prospective members the opportunity to meet art and aerobics instructors, watch fitness class demos, paint their own artworks and discover new interests.
Heritage has long been an important program at The J for seniors, offering fitness classes, cards and games, transportation and kosher lunches. To encourage adults ages 55 and above to participate, additional classes and courses have already been added, and more will continue to join the lineup over the next year. Day trips across the Kansas City metro area, happy hours, camera phone photography classes and more have been developed to retain current Heritage members and attract new participants.
One of the larger areas of growth continues to be in the Rita Blitt Art Studio. The space, which was renovated in the 2020 expansion, has updated ceramics and art rooms. In these spaces, Heritage offers courses such as silk painting, wheel throwing, handbuilding ceramics, watercolor and more. New classes will be offered in the evenings and on weekends to better accommodate working professional’s schedules.
“Our art studios are a great destination for quality instruction,” Greason said. “We have top notch instructors, but this is true for all our programs. I am excited for the changes happening now as well as the ones planned for the future.”
More information regarding Heritage is available at heritagekc.org or by contacting Sandra Greason at or (913) 327-8042.