Age Friendly Culture CIC was established in July 2025 to make creative and cultural opportunities with/ for/ by older people part of mainstream delivery and embedded within the wider age friendly cities and communities movement. We believe creativity and culture are a fundamental human right at every age, and that older people should be represented, have agency and be able to influence the cultural life of the places where they live. We focus particularly on older people who are under-represented or underserved by cultural opportunities and decision-making. Our work is about increasing representation, participation and impact: changing who gets to take part, who gets to shape culture and how cultural organisations understand and demonstrate their impact. Our work is anchored in Greater Manchester, while sharing learning nationally and internationally. During our first year of operation, the CIC delivered two significant projects that put this approach into practice. The first was commissioned jointly by the Age Friendly Manchester team and the Culture and Neighbourhoods team at Manchester City Council to co-design and deliver a new plan for Manchester. The second was funded by the Centre for Ageing Better as part of its Ageing Without Limits campaign, and was developed in partnership with The Whitworth, The Artivists and independent artist Helen Clare.

The Age Friendly Culture CIC's stakeholders include older people, particularly those who are under-represented or underserved by cultural opportunities and decision-making; cultural organisations and creative practitioners; community partners; and strategic partners working to create more age friendly communities. Stakeholder engagement was central to the CIC's work during the financial year. In developing the Age Friendly Manchester Culture Plan 2026–29, the CIC worked with older people, cultural partners, community partners and strategic partners over 12 months. Creative approaches were used alongside conversations, group discussions and other forms of engagement to explore people's experiences, identify barriers and opportunities, and generate ideas for the future of age friendly culture in Manchester. This engagement directly informed the Plan and its three key strands: Make it Mainstream, Make it Representative and Make the Case. It also shaped the CIC's approach to implementation. In the next financial year, the CIC will work with more older people and partners, using creative approaches to co-design pilot projects that will deliver the first year of the Plan. For the Without Limits: Art / Activism / Artivism project, the CIC worked with 10 older artists from the Artivists group, The Whitworth and lead artist Helen Clare. The zine was co-created through a creative process in which the older artists contributed their ideas, experiences and creative perspectives to the resulting publication. The project demonstrated the value of using creativity to explore issues affecting older people, and has provided a foundation for the CIC to explore further creative ways of discussing and reflecting on ageism with a wider range of partners. Across both projects, the CIC has embedded lived experience and creativity not only in its project work but in its approach to governance. This is a way of working that the CIC intends to build on as it develops, working with a growing range of older people and partners to achieve its aims. The CIC's approach is therefore not to consult stakeholders simply to gather views, but to create opportunities for their experience, creativity and ideas to influence what is developed and how it is delivered. The relationships and ways of working established during the first financial year provide the foundations for this approach to continue and develop in future years.

One of the CIC's three directors received remuneration during the financial year for freelance project management and delivery work undertaken for the CIC. This comprised 12 days over 12 months supporting the development and delivery of the Age Friendly Manchester Culture Plan 2026–29, and a further half day supporting the Without Limits: Art / Activism / Artivism project.

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration