Anne Basting

Background

About Anne Basting

Anne Basting (Ph.D.) is Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, where she directs the Center for 21st Century Studies. She is founder and board president of TimeSlips Creative Storytelling For over 20 years, Basting has developed and researched ways to transform the narrative of loss and tragedy that frames aging and late life. Through cultural and artistic practices, she creates opportunities for meaning-making, growth, and creative expression in care relationships and systems. Basting is author of numerous articles and four books - including Creative Care: A revolutionary approach to dementia and elder care (Harper, 2020). Named a 2016 MacArthur Fellow, Basting is also the recipient of an Ashoka Fellowship, a Rockefeller Fellowship, a Brookdale National Fellowship, and numerous major grants, including the MAP Fund and NEA Artworks. She is author and/or producer of nearly a dozen plays and public performances, including Wendy's Neverland (2019), Slightly Bigger Women (2015) and Finding Penelope (2011), a play inspired by a year of intergenerational conversations about the myth of Penelope from Homer’s Odyssey, and professionally staged at a long term care facility. Basting and her work have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the TEDMED stage, NPR, the national PBS documentary Penelope, and other major news outlets.