We are proud to announce the launch of the CREATIVE CARE COUNCIL! LEARN MORE
We are proud to announce the launch of the CREATIVE CARE COUNCIL! LEARN MORE
LOS ANGELES (March 16, 2023)—Caring Across Generations is partnering with Hollywood headliners to announce the launch of its Creative Care Council to elevate the portrayal of caregiving in film and television.
Yvette Nicole Brown, Bradley Cooper, Brandee Evans, Yves Mathieu East, Richard Lui, Lauren Miller Rogen and Seth Rogen, and Megan Thee Stallion have joined Caring Across Generations’ new Creative Care Council to change the way our culture and policies value and support caregiving. Members of the Council will provide vital feedback and recommendations on actions to raise awareness of care issues and strengthen connections to like-minded partners who share these goals.
Child care, aging and illness are universal experiences, yet more than 53 million unpaid caregivers across the country, along with millions of disabled people and older adults, have long waited for Congress to address the country’s urgent and growing demand for accessible and affordable care. President Biden, who has made care a top policy priority, last week announced unprecedented care-related investments in his 2024 budget proposal, including: $150 billion to expand access to aging and disability care and ensure good pay for direct care workers; $400 billion to boost child care and early learning, the largest investment ever proposed by a president; and $325 billion to create a comprehensive federal paid family and medical leave program, a historic proposal.
“Caring for the people we love is one of the most important and fundamental roles in our lives, but that work is largely invisible and unsupported, even as our society ages and our needs grow,” said Ai-jen Poo, executive director of Caring Across Generations and 2014 MacArthur “Genius Grant” winner. “The care crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time and we are thrilled that our Creative Care Council members are giving voice and visibility to the support we all need, to help ensure that we all have childcare, paid family leave and aging and disability care so we can thrive.”
Throughout the next year, council members will meet with screenwriters and other content creators to develop more care-related storylines in TV and movies, share their personal care experiences with political and business leaders and help advocate for concrete solutions, and use their platforms to amplify other caregivers’ stories and spark a national conversation about care.
“I am responsible for my father in every way and I wouldn’t change it for the world,” said Emmy nominee Yvette Nicole Brown, who cares for her father with Alzheimer’s, and stars in an upcoming video ad campaign celebrating family caregivers. “I’m thankfully in a position where I can care for him without experiencing financial hardship, but so many caregivers are not in that position. I hope that my care story will encourage a more kind, altruistic world, and raise awareness of the resources available to caregivers.”
“There were so many more aspects of being a caregiver than my family ever expected when my father, Charles J. Cooper, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2011,” said director, producer and writer Bradley Cooper, who has won a BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild and two Grammy Awards. “We had to come together to make sure my father had a ride to his appointments, nutritious meals, and emotional support. We were privileged to be able to be by my dad’s side through everything, but being able to receive the full spectrum of care that you need should never be a privilege. Everyone should be able to live, age, and die with dignity. I’m proud to be a part of the Creative Care Council with Caring Across Generations because I believe every individual should have the care and support that my father did – somebody to walk hand in hand with as they navigate their treatment, and the financial security to have the peace of mind knowing their family’s quality of life would be taken care of.”
Reiterating the urgency of the care crisis, artist and volunteer caregiver Yves Mathieu East said: “At some point in your life you will either be the person receiving care, or the person facilitating care. Caregiving is more common than we know; we shouldn’t play the waiting game when we can take charge now.”
“It broke my heart when I brought my mother from California to Georgia and we lost all of the care benefits she had,” said Brandee Evans, who fought to continue providing in-person care for her mother while shooting hit TV series “P-Valley” in Georgia and shared her caregiving journey with elected leaders, caregivers and advocates at a community roundtable in Atlanta last fall. “I was initially excited to have her with me in Atlanta, but I couldn’t find care; caregivers were quitting because the pay wasn’t enough. There were times I had to watch my mother on a screen while filming and eventually I had to take her back to California and fly back and forth during filming. No one should have to struggle alone to do the one thing we want most to do: care for our loved one.”
“Family caregiving is the most common job in our society by far, but we don’t talk about it enough,” Emmy- and Peabody-winning journalist and news anchor Richard Lui said, after recently joining advocates to deliver petitions to Congress. “Caregivers are like astronauts. We go on a long and distant journey, sometimes with a big crew, sometimes smaller. There are unexpected emergencies that you and your crew have to improvise around, but also joy. The more we recognize this reality, the more we can change the way we value care in our culture and economy.”
“I felt so alone when I became a caregiver in my early 20s to my mother, who had early onset Alzheimer’s disease,” said Lauren Miller Rogen, who spoke last year with the cast of “This is Us” (NBC) about the power of movies and TV to shift attitudes around care, aging and dying. “But the more I learned that other people were going through similar challenges, the more I realized that needing care and providing care are universal experiences filled with challenges, but also intimacy and joy. I hope that talking openly about care, aging and illness will invite others to share their experiences, too.”
“You shouldn’t have to be super rich to get care for yourself or your family,” added Seth Rogen, who joined Miller Rogen to meet with congressional leaders last fall to advocate for investments in long-term care. “Every single person ages and needs some help at some time. The more we talk about this openly, the more we can realize we’re all in this together and figure out a way to transform how we care for one another.” Rogen stars in the Academy Award-nominated film “The Fabelmans.”
“Caregiving has played a major role in my life,” said Grammy Award winner Megan Thee Stallion. “When I was growing up I watched my grandmother care for my great-grandmother, and she did it with love, strength, and patience. As a society, we have to support and celebrate our care workers more because caregiving is one of the most underappreciated jobs. My hope is that we can create better environments where people receiving care can feel safe and secure and at home while care workers feel supported and empowered. All families should have access to high-quality resources to provide care for those in need.”
ABOUT THE COUNCIL MEMBERS