An almshouse is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community. They are targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain forms of previous employment, or their widows, at elderly people who can no longer pay rent, are maintained by a charity or the trustees of a bequest. Almshouses were formed as extensions of the church system and were adapted by local officials and authorities. Many almshouses are European Christian institutions. Alms are, in the Christian tradition, money or services donated to support the indigent. Almshouses were established from the 10th century in Britain, to provide a place of residence for poor and distressed people, they were sometimes called the residents bedesmen or bedeswomen. Bede is the Anglo-Saxon word for prayer and the alms-men and women were obliged to pray for the founder of the charity; the first recorded almshouse was founded in York by King Athelstan. In the Middle Ages, the majority of European hospitals functioned as almshouses.

Many of the medieval almshouses in England were established with the aim of benefiting the soul of the founder or their family, they incorporated a chapel. As a result, most were regarded as chantries and were dissolved during the Reformation, under an act of 1547. Almshouses have charitable status and aim to support the continued independence of their residents. There is an important delineation between almshouses and other forms of sheltered housing in that almshouse residents have no security of tenure, being dependent upon the goodwill of the administering trustees. In 1269 or 1270 an almshouse was established in Stavanger as the first known in Norway; the English tradition of almshouses was introduced to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by its founder, William Penn. The Maryland legislature created almshouses in Anne Arundel County, financed by property taxes on landowners throughout the state. Massachusetts had a long tradition of almshouses. In the United States, aid tended to be limited to the elderly and disabled, children had to sleep in the same rooms as adults.

The first almshouse in United States history was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1622. The original Boston Almshouse was burned down in 1682 and was rebuilt away from the heart of Boston nearly a decade later. In 1884 the statistical analysis of the Massachusetts almshouses showed four in the city of Boston and 225 almshouses throughout the state; these almshouses housed nearly 7,000 people. Of these residents, 700 were believed to have a mental illness. Half of these almshouses did not house children. Upon entering the Almshouses in Connecticut, patients were whipped ten times. There were similar institutions developed from 1725–1773 in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New York. At the Pennsylvania Hospital, some "lunatics" were chained to a cellar wall or made to wear a primitive straitjacket. Before the American Civil War, local officials regulated almshouses and did not ensure the people inside them were being cared for in the proper way or given the time they needed for help, it was not until the 1860s that more progressive states such as New York began to create boards that regulated and reported on almshouses.

The Newark almshouse opened in September 1878 as a branch of the Syracuse State School. It was located on 104 acres of land within the town of Newark, New Jersey, held around 853 patients; the nine dormitory buildings that housed the patients were able to hold anywhere from 45 to 130 people. There was a small hospital within the almshouse that could hold up to 30 patients. There were not many employees, only about 110, to take care of the hundreds of young women admitted to the almshouse. Patients were committed to the Newark State School by superintendents of the poor as well as judges who declared them insane or feeble-minded in court. Many of the patients of the New York Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women were falsely considered to be mentally ill. Mary Lake was the daughter of a young woman, sentenced to 10 years in a state prison. Mary and her other siblings were put into almshouses, she was committed to the almshouse in Newark as feeble-minded. It was not until years where she was pronounced not mentally ill and was able to leave the almshouse.

Throughout the 19th century almshouses were a last resort for those who were poor and elderly. Residents experienced mistreatment and inhumanity; as almshouses continued into the 19th century, activists such as Dorothea Dix fought for institutional reform. Dix sought to remove children, the mentally ill, the developmentally disabled from all almshouses and increase the number of institutions and asylums for those to reside in; as her movement gained momentum, she played a vital role in the establishment and expansion of over 30 hospitals for the treatment of the mentally ill. Her efforts removed specific groups from almshouses. One of the biggest problems with almshouses is that they were self-sustaining, they were costly to run, the capacity of the inmates to pay for their own keep by working at the farm, or working at the almshouse itself, was overestimated. There were not enough staff, facilities were not kept up, the poor kept coming. By the end of the 1800s, almshouses began to be replaced by institutions.

Almshouses are multiple small terraced houses or apartments providing accommodation for small numbers of residents. Some 2,600 almshouses continue to be operated in the UK, providing 30,000 dwel

The Music of Peru is an amalgamation of sounds and styles drawing on Peru's Andean and African roots. Andean influences can be best heard in wind instruments and the shape of the melodies, while the African influences can be heard in the rhythm and percussion instruments, European influences can be heard in the harmonies and stringed instruments. Pre-Columbian Andean music was played on drums and wind instruments, like the European pipe and tabor tradition. Andean tritonic and pentatonic scales were elaborated during the colonial period into hexatonic, in some cases, diatonic scales; the earliest printed polyphonic music in Peru, indeed anywhere in the Americas, was "Hanacpachap cussicuinin," composed or collected by Juan Pérez Bocanegra and printed in 1631. Peruvian music is dominated by the charango; the charango is member of the lute family of instruments and was invented during the Viceroyalty of Peru by musicians imitating the Spanish vihuela. In the Canas and Titicaca regions, the charango is used in courtship rituals, symbolically invoking mermaids with the instrument to lure the woman to the male performers.

Until the 1960s, the charango was denigrated as an instrument of the rural poor. After the revolution in 1959, which built upon the Indigenismo movement, the charango was popularized among other performers. Variants include the walaycho, chillador and the larger and lower-tuned charangon. While the Spanish guitar is played, so too is the Spanish-in-origin bandurria. Unlike the guitar, it has been transformed by Peruvian players over the years, changing from a 12-string, 6-course instrument to one having 12 to 16 strings in a mere 4 courses. Violins and harps of European origin, are played; the cajón is an important percussion instrument developed by African slaves. People imply the cowbell may be of African origin. While the rhythms played on them are African-influenced, some percussive instruments are of non-African origin. For example, of European origin is the bombo, of Andean origin are the wankara and tinya respectively. In addition to the ocarina and waqra phuku, there are Peruvian wind instruments of two basic types and flutes, both of Native Andean origin and built to play tritonic and hexatonic scales, though some contemporary musicians play instruments designed to play European diatonic scales.

Of the former variety, there are the antara. Of the latter variety, there are the pinkillu and quena flutes. See Peruvian dances Apiliarg—A dance from the Oporeza area. Carnaval en Amazonas—A dance from the Amazonas region similar to the huayno. Carnavalito—A dance from southern Peru and the Bolivian Altiplano similar to the huayno. Chumaichada—A dance from the Amazonas region with strong Native Peruvian musical influences and strong European dance influences. Creole Waltz—A Peruvian adaptation of the European waltz. Cueca—A pan-Andean compound 3/4-6/8 dance rhythm. Cumbia—A Colombian-in-origin 2/4 dance rhythm. Danza de tijeras—A dance from southern Peru. Danzantes de Levanto—A dance from the Amazonas region. Diablada—A 2/4 dance rhythm from southern Peru and northern Chile. Morenada—A dance rhythm from southern Peru and western Bolivia. Festejo—A popular 12/8 Afro-Peruvian dance form. Harawi or Yaravi—A highland dance danced to various meters: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4. Huanca —A dance from the Amazonas region.

Huayño—A popular 2/4 highlands dance. Kantu—A highland circle dance. Landó—An Afro-Peruvian compound 3/4-12/8 dance rhythm. Marinera—An Afro-Peruvian 6/8 dance rhythm. Polka—A 2/4 European-in-origin dance form. Sikuri—A dance rhythm from southern Peru and western Bolivia. Son de los Diablos Tondero—A northwestern Peruvian 6/8 dance form. Zamacueca—A 6/8 Afro-Peruvian dance form. Manuelcha Prado is a guitarist, composer and troubadour of Andean music, he is known for many people as "The Saqra of the Guitar". Jaime Guardia is a Peruvian charango player, he has recorded as a solo act and with the group Lira Paucina. Raul Romero's recordings of saxophone and clarinet ensembles from the Mantaro Valley have proved influential. Susana Baca is two-times Latin Grammy Award winner. One important space for Peruvian contemporary classical music is Circomper, the Peruvian Composition Circle. Música Criolla del Perú Audio clips: Traditional music of Peru. Musée d'ethnographie de Genève. Accessed November 25, 2010. Brill, Mark.

Music of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2nd Edition, 2018. Taylor & Francis ISBN 1138053562 BBC Radio 3 Audio: Huaynos of the Andes and Afro-Peruvian music. Accessed November 25, 2010. BBC Radio 3 Audio: The music of Ayacucho. Accessed November 25, 2010. BBC Radio 3 Audio: Iquitos and Lake Titicaca. Accessed November 25, 2010. Manuelcha Prado Official website Music from the Andes and Nearby Regions Going Underground: Peru An exploration into the underground music scene in Peru 1

The LGBT Aging Project is a Boston-based non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that lesbian, gay and transgender older adults have equal access to life-prolonging benefits, protection and institutions as heterosexual adults. Founded in 2001, the project provides cultural competence and institutional capacity training to elder service providers on how to create and sustain LGBT welcoming environments, develop community-building programs for LGBT older adults and caregivers, works to enact policy and legislative changes to improve access to care and benefits for LGBT elders.. The LGBT Aging Project was featured in the 2010 award-winning documentary Gen Silent; the LGBT Aging Project was founded in 2001 by a group of advocates from the aging service network and individuals from the LGBT community. The Greater Boston LGBT Aging Summit was held in June 2001 in order to create an action plan for the needs of LGBT elders. In the fall of 2001, the action plan created at the summit was released at a Massachusetts state house press conference.

In 2002, the LGBT Aging Project began organizing work groups on aging and health policy and programs delveopment and the creation of new programs within the project. The project hired their first full-time director, Amy Hunt, received a funding grant from the Boston Foundation, it was in 2002 that the project defined their mission as "ensuring that lesbian, gay and transgender older adults and their caregivers have equal access to the life-prolonging benefits, protections and institutions that their heterosexual neighbors take for granted." The year 2003 proved to be a major time of legislative change and policy action and advocacy for the LGBT Aging Project. The LGBT Aging Project was involved with marriage equality advocacy – through testimonies at the Massachusetts State House by both LGBT Aging Project members as well as LGBT older adults. In 2003, the LGBT Aging Project became more visible in the community through numerous presentations & events, such as the first Boston Pride Tea Dance for LGBT elders and their friends.

The first LGBT caregiver support group started in 2003 after the LGBT Aging Project was awarded an initial grant from the Caregiver Alliance of Suffolk County. On May 17, 2004, marriage equality became a reality for the state of Massachusetts due to the role that the LGBT Aging Project played in legislative advocacy for the cause; the LGBT Aging Project lost Amy Hunt as its director during 2004, gained its current executive director, Lisa Krinsky. The LGBT Aging Project made great strides in its development as it created a pilot program for the Open Door Task Force LGBT cultural competency training program, initiated trainings with major Area Agencies on Aging and Aging Service Access Points in Massachusetts, opened Café Emmanuel with Ethos, a Boston area Aging Service Access Point. Café Emmanuel is Massachusetts’ first federally funded meal program for LGBT older adults and their friends. Since 2005, the LGBT Aging Project has hosted numerous community forums for LGBT elders and held many state funded LGBT training and outreach sessions within the state Elder Service Network.

In 2006, Bob Linscott, the current assistant director, was hired as a part-time outreach worker and site coordinator for Café Emmanuel. The year 2007 saw Bob rise to the full-time assistant director, the LGBT Aging Project sponsored a number of events, including the Pride week event, LGBT Veterans Share their Stories and Stu Maddux’s film, “Bob and Jack’s 52 Year Adventure” at the Boston LGBT Film Festival; the LGBT Aging Project launched a second LGBT friendly meal program with Ethos, “Out to Brunch”, for lesbian and transgender women. In 2008, a major stride was made in the Massachusetts state legislation with the passage of the MassHealth Equality Law due to the work done by the LGBT Aging Project; this law ensures that same sex couples who are married in Massachusetts have equal access to eligibility evaluation when applying for the state's Medicaid program. Since 2010, the LGBT Aging Project has secured funding to create LGBT bereavement support groups and healthy aging programs; the LGBT Aging Project co-sponsored the Gen Silent premiere at the Boston LGBT Film Festival in 2010, in which it was featured along with six LGBT seniors in the Boston area.2010 saw the LGBT Aging Project become an inaugural training partner for the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging, the first federally funded resource on LGBT Aging, sponsored by the Administration on Aging.

The LGBT Aging Project receives funding through a variety of sources including state grants and individuals. The LGBT Aging Project offers several direct services – an LGBT caregiver support group, LGBT bereavement support groups, Healthy Aging in the LGBT Community programs, which include topics such as nutrition and memory fitness; the LGBT Aging Project provides Open Door Task Force training and development, in which it assists mainstream elder service providers in evaluating organizational and program policies, offering practice skills training for direct service workers, developing and delivering LGBT-welcoming programs and services. The LGBT Aging Project makes civic leadership a priority by working to sustain change in legislative policies that create equity for LGBT older adults and caregivers, as well as through gaining information and research that demonstrates the needs of LGBT people as they age. In addition to the regular programs offered, the LGBT Aging Project holds numerous special events and conferences to help bring about awareness of issues facing LGBT older adults and caregivers.

Lisa Krinsky and Bob Linscott have been recognized on numerous occasions for th