PARC Retirement Living Partners with VCM
November 17, 2017Victoria Conservatory of Music CEO, Jane Butler McGregor today announced an innovative new partnership with PARC Retirement Living. The Victoria Conservatory of Music Centre for Music Wellness presented by PARC Retirement Living will offer music wellness classes for adults of all ages in our community, with the partnership expanding in the future to include a Centre for Music Wellness at the proposed PARC Retirement Living Residence to be located at Fort and Quadra Streets in downtown Victoria.
“Music has been shown to be an important factor in maintaining the mental, physical and emotional health of adults of all ages, and we are pleased to be able to offer these innovative classes through our new Centre for Music Wellness,” said Butler McGregor. “The new partnership with PARC Retirement Living and the development of the Centre at the PARC Residence will create opportunities to celebrate the amazing impact of music throughout our lives”.
Founder and Chairman of PARC Retirement Living, Rainer Müller noted, “when we met with VCM last year, they shared their dream for a satellite Centre for Music Wellness. It was a concept that seamlessly aligned with PARC’s larger commitment to reverse the stigma attached to older adults in society today, nurture the benefits of developing multi-generational connections, and create an enriched and fulfilling lifestyle at our proposed residence at Fort and Quadra.”
Müller was inspired by his mother’s legacy to develop, design and manage retirement residences. In 2001, he developed Summerhill PARC in North Vancouver, and in 2005, Mulberry PARC in Burnaby. These two award-winning residences have been serving their communities, seniors and families since they opened their doors. PARC opened their third residence, Cedar Springs PARC, in 2012, in the Mt. Seymour area of the North Shore and Westerleigh PARC in West Vancouver in 2013. PARC’s fifth retirement residence, Oceana PARC in White Rock, BC is currently under construction, it is scheduled to open in the summer of 2019.
Music Wellness classes, developed by the Victoria Conservatory of Music Centre for Music Wellness Presented by PARC Retirement Living, are currently in their “pilot” phase, being offered as 6-week modules, are 45 minutes in length, and include a convenient drop-in option. Activities include movement to music, improvising through a variety of music instruments, practising team coordination through making music with handbells, creating a group Radio Play or co-writing a new song, and discovering effective relaxation techniques with music.
