Take a Break From Burnout

Arts for the Aging, Inc. is looking to fill a part-time, paid internship position in programming and communications during the period of either summer 2022 or preferably one full year from summer 2022 – spring 2023. The intern will assist in implementing Arts for the Aging’s communications and outreach plan through programming, development and communication, and culminating projects or products. The intern will gain work experience in professional social media outreach, experience communicating with stakeholders at all levels, knowledge of the intersection of art and health, project management, and leadership skills.

Arts for the Aging is a social service organization with a mission to engage older adults and their caregivers in health improvement and life enhancement through regular participation in the multi-disciplinary arts. We stimulate minds, bodies, spirits, and imaginations through the delivery of therapeutic, participatory arts experiences led by a faculty of professional teaching artists who are trained in our nationally recognized best practices in creative aging. https://artsfortheaging.org/about-us/

If you are interested in applying to Arts for the Aging as a programming and communications intern, please send your resume and cover letter to info@aftaarts.org. Indicate on the subject line whether you are applying for summer 2022 or for a year-long internship, summer 2022 through spring 2023. Applications are due by February 18, 2022. If you have questions or need additional information, please email Arts for the Aging at info@aftaarts.org.

Find out more here.

Narrative Mindworks takes a closer look at the intersection of art and healthcare in their feature Drawing Together: Visual Storytellers Combine Art and Medicine. The piece highlights how sketches, daily drawings, and collaborative storytelling become powerful tools for reflection, empathy, and human connection — expanding the ways we can understand illness, care, and healing.

At the heart of this work is narrative medicine: the practice of honoring stories and creative expression as essential to health. By exploring how visual artists bring narrative into medical spaces, the article shows how images can deepen communication between patients, providers, and communities.

👉 Read the full article on Narrative Mindworks: https://narrativemindworks.org/insights-highlights/highlights/drawing-together-visual-storytellers-combine-art-and-medicine

Position Description: Operations Associate
Part time (24 hours/week), non-exempt
$20/hr

About Snow City Arts
Snow City Arts (SCA) inspires and educates children and youth in hospitals through the arts. SCA provides one-on-one and small group instruction in the visual arts, creative writing, poetry, theater, music, dance and media arts to patients at Rush University Children’s Hospital, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Children’s Hospital University of Illinois (UIC), and Cook County Health. Snow City Arts’ programming also includes virtual instruction to meet the needs of young people who are isolated due to illness. Further, SCA is leveraging its investment in virtual learning to launch Communities Creating Together to foster community building across our various locations and our broad range of constituencies.

Snow City Arts’ curricula are steeped in studio practices and benchmarked by the National Core Arts Standards and Common Core State Standards. SCA works in close partnership with Chicago Public Schools and suburban school districts. With permission, student’s learning outcomes and portfolios are sent to their schools in order to generate credit assignment for work completed with SCA. The Snow City Arts team includes an administrative staff of five and an artistic staff of eight part-time, professional Teaching Artists, as well as numerous interns, work-study students, and volunteers. As a small yet mighty organization, our team values an “all hands on deck” approach balanced with a strong commitment to wellness. Snow City Arts is committed to generating a work environment that centers on learning, equity, and inclusivity. A cohort member of Enrich Chicago, SCA is committed to advancing systemic change in the arts and is building a vision and framework for anti-racist work across the organization.

Summary of Position
The Operations Associate reports to the Program Director and manages a full portfolio of diverse administrative responsibilities in support of the successful operations of SCA. This role will support organizational leadership, development functions, and Board committees via scheduling, report collection and production, periodic note-taking at meetings, and other administrative tasks. This role also has primary responsibility for data reporting and analysis on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis and on other schedules as requested.

Learn more and apply by November 4th: https://snowcityarts.org/opportunities/

 The Art of Nature 

With the changing seasons are you enjoying heading outdoors? Will you be inspired and bathe in the forest? 

“The natural world isn’t a subset of art. The natural world is the art and the ultimate inspiration; the majesty of mountain and flow of landscapes is the muse”, says NOAH member, Dr. Deborah Early. Her solar-powered home and studio, The Art of Awareness at Bluewater Lodge, are on the Queen Charlotte Track in Aotearoa New Zealand and accessed by boat only. 

Dr. Early, who was previously a President of the American Medical Writers Association Delaware Valley Chapter, has expanded from regulatory writing to reflective writing. She has woven together her experiences, teaching evidence-based nature-connection and wellbeing for overseas master-level professionals, with her lived experiences living in a remote area on an island in the South Pacific. Her new book Forest Bathing with My Clothes On: One Woman’s Biophilic Journey of Belonging, Wellbeing and Transformation with a Path towards Adapting to Change was published last month with a virtual launch on International Women’s Day. The collection presents new perspectives on the importance of nature and culture to our identity and wellbeing, together with adapting to the future. The anthology will be essential for cross-cultural professional teams designing for wellbeing, especially those at the intersection of healthcare, recreation and the built environment. 

“Art is for everyone”, says Dr. Early. “It is a way to express emotion. The Art of Awareness Studio was created about 5 years ago after I volunteered at a local retreat center in the US and I was then asked by an acquaintance to curate a healing arts retreat for her. This transformative retreat, which included music, dance, olfactory art and other forms of creative expression, took place in my family’s little weekend cottage which was located in a small, historic and forested artist and writers’ community in central Pennsylvania. The following year, having personally recovered from loss and a spinal cord injury, and from my own journey knowing first-hand the healing aspects of mindful creative expression and nature immersion, I developed an evidence-based wellbeing workshop series for USA physical therapy patients experiencing chronic and ongoing pain. Around that time, I also created a wellbeing program for US middle school students and facilitated a number of wellbeing retreats for carers in the USA and Aotearoa New Zealand. In addition, via my virtual studio, I offered various community support programs pre, during and post pandemic to reduce loneliness and feelings of isolation. This virtual option has broadened and is now available all year. I currently also work with architects designing for wellbeing solutions rooted in Indigenous knowledge in different contexts across Oceania and last year I hosted a local Artist-in-Residence weekend to encourage creativity with conservation and to support the wellbeing of people and planet.” 

Looking forward, Dr. Early is focused on supporting professional wellbeing designers with ways to strengthen their biophilia – love of the natural world; her article on this, with an extract from her book, was published last month in the 8th edition of the UK Journal of Biophilic Design edition on wellbeing. Dr. Early integrates biophilic art with contemplative reflection and will be presenting an ‘art centered seed and skills’ session at the upcoming Nature of Cities Festival, a global community of changemakers, mixing art, science, and urban practice to build better cities for nature and all people. Registrations for the virtual event, happening April 15-26, are currently open here. 

“We are all creative and especially with Earth Day coming up on April 22, I am particularly keen to encourage biophilic art which overcomes the modern living perception that we are separate and disconnected from nature. I recently undertook an informal, online search of ‘water cycle and humans’ and of 165 images that came up only two showed any human association and that was in the form of buildings. We are nature”, says Dr. Early sharing an example of her own blue, biophilic art poem which also appears in text format in her book. For more details please see www.TheArtofAwareness.studio.

2026 Submission Season: September 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026

Email Submissions to: Dragonfly@HopeWorksOfHC.org
• Poetry
• Photography
• Music
• Essay
• Prose
• Sculpture
• Painting

Open to the Public: Writers/Artists/Musicians do not have to be survivors.

At HopeWorks, we use the arts in three important ways to accomplish our mission: to support survivors in their healing; as a vehicle to increase awareness; and to imagine creative solutions to bring about social change.

Dragonfly arts & transformative justice magazine, published each spring, is one of our most popular arts-based projects.

Themes for all submitted work should focus on reflections about activism, joy, oppression (e.g., sexism, racism, ableism, xenophobia, poverty) love, advocacy, hope, transformative justice, trauma, equity, intersectionality, relationships, surviving, thriving, healing, or wellbeing.

Please review the submissions guidelines before submitting.

ABOUT HopeWorks
HopeWorks is Howard County Maryland’s rape crisis and domestic violence center. HopeWorks provides direct support to survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence (including adult survivors of child sexual abuse). And we work in the community to change the culture that allows these forms of violence to continue. HopeWorks’ services include crisis shelter, counseling, advocacy, legal resources, survivor leadership & wellness programs, prevention education, professional trainings, community self-care & social justice programs and volunteer opportunities.

To accomplish our mission, we use an analysis and framework that enables us to address and decrease the root causes of sexual and intimate partner violence, as well as the systems that fuel sexism, racism, ageism, poverty, transphobia, health disparities, homophobia, ableism, genocide, xenophobia, and other forms of oppression. We support and partner with others who are focused on violence prevention work, efforts to achieve healthier relationships and a world where each person is safe, valued and affirmed.

“Art has power that flows beyond mere understanding.  It nourishes and sustains…indeed, some call it ‘food for the soul.’”

At For Love & Art’s genesis, I penned these words seemingly out of nowhere.  I speak it to people and gauge their reactions.  There’s an ancient and profound recognition here.  People are inspired and intuitively concur.

I am a hospice volunteer and practitioner of therapeutic art.

One of my hospice patients, “Sammy,” died last night.  I knew him a little, but I knew him a lot.  On our first meeting (for me, often awkward—so many small-talk visits before a rich relationship arises, from which intimate conversations spring), Sammy was bedridden for two weeks and clutched his bedcovers up around his chin. He seemed so very weak, distant, and frail…I thought he might pass at any moment.

I happened to have a Virtual Museum ArtBook with me and I asked him if he liked art.  He said, “sure.”  We went to The Met, digitally.

One after another, beautiful images from among the greatest artists in the world emerged: the majestic Matterhorn at dawn; a lush, green meadow graced by budding dogwoods at dusk; a young couple stealing a kiss in a rose garden, and so on.

It was the seventh or eighth image – a rustic painting of a snow-covered red cabin in the woods – during which the magic happened (image below).

Sammy exclaimed, “This reminds me of when I was a little boy and my parents let me visit my grandmother for a couple of weeks every winter in Western Pennsylvania. Boy, the snow was so high, it was taller than the top of my head!”

Sammy went on and on about these trips to Grandma’s house, how much fun he had in this winter wonderland, how scrumptiously she cooked and how very much he loved her.  Clearly, this woman was the great love of his life. He shared about her and their relationship so very wholly and generously, almost as if she were standing right beside him.

It was easy for me to listen to him without bias or interruption.  What an honor to witness someone profusely sharing such joy!  Sammy was in the presence of how very much his Grandmother had loved him, and how very much he loved her.  Herein lies the sweetness of life.

Before either of us knew it, two hours flew by, and then Sammy announced, “Mark, I have to go to the bathroom.”

I said, “Okay, Sammy, let me help you up.”  And he said, “No bother…”

…and he flung off the bedsheets, hopped out of bed (imagine my surprise), pranced to the bathroom to do his business, pranced back and bounced right back into bed – like he was a kid again.  I reckon he was…

I’ve been with Sammy for about 6 hours total…not a very long relationship, one would think.  And yet, he was a very dear friend, and his passing so saddens me.  You see, I knew him a little, yet I knew him a lot.  I’ve been here before – I’m a hospice volunteer, after all – once grief has come and gone, a sense of honor and respect and gratitude settles in:  Wasn’t I lucky to have known this great man, even if just for a little while?

Okay, a couple of things here:

1.  That conversation about the love of Sammy’s life wasn’t going to happen so quickly without the ‘cabin in the woods’ painting.  One’s experience while viewing artwork triggers very important conversations for people, and sharing these elevates the quality of life psychosocially, cognitively, spiritually, and physically for all participants.

2.  I walked out of that room in love with that man and he was in love with me.   I triumphed as a volunteer. Listening to that conversation without bias bonded us deeply, emotionally, in an instant.  One might say we were co-joined spiritually; not as “Mark” and “Sammy” but as Love and Gratitude, expressed.

3. That single conversation altered the context of Sammy’s last days. No longer was he worried about dying, having done life right, existential angst or fear of what’s to come. No, he was basking in the glow of a life well lived. He loved so many great people and they loved him. “Thank you, God, for this great ride!”

“Art has power that flows beyond mere understanding.  It nourishes and sustains…indeed, some call it food for the soul”…starting with our own.

For Love & Art is a nonprofit enterprise that partners with fine museums around the world to bring the Art Experience to people with limited mobility. We stimulate art appreciation while empowering caregivers to love people in creative and transformative ways.

View more here

Submitted by:
Mark Blair W. Lombard
For Love & Art

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#ArtsinHealth #ArtsinHealthMonth #InternationalArtsinHealthMonth

Dance/Movement Therapist – James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, Tampa, Florida

The primary service covered by this request for proposal is the implementation of a Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) program that will investigate how creative arts therapies and various healing arts models developed and tested at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) can be adapted and delivered to service members, veterans and families at the designated expansion sites.

Start date: A/O March 15, 2020

SUBMIT:

• Cover Letter
• Resume
• 3 References

SUBMIT PROPOSALS TO:

• By email: creativeforces@artsusa.org
• By mail: Attn: Creative Forces Project Administrator, 1000 Vermont Avenue, NW, 6th Floor, Washington DC 20005

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION:

• By email: Received no later than 5pm (ET), Wednesday February 28, 2020 to creativeforces@artsusa.org
• By mail: Postmarked no later than February 28, 2020

We are delighted to announce a unique virtual course, Training Our Eyes, Minds, and Hearts: Visual Thinking Strategies for Health Care Professionals, offered through Harvard Medical School for CME credit. This course strengthens humanistic and analytic competencies and can transform medical education, patient care, teamwork, equity, and professional growth. It is the first to offer longitudinal, in-depth training and coaching in the arts-based facilitation method, Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), and is designed specifically to improve health professions education, clinical outcomes, and leader and team dynamics within healthcare.

You will achieve proficiency in VTS facilitation applied to healthcare, including:
-Deepening skills in observation, active listening, paraphrasing, suspending judgment, sustaining inquiry, and creating psychological safety;
-Applying these skills to communicate, collaborate, teach, and lead more effectively within clinical workflow and be equipped to support your colleagues to do the same;
-Designing and leading arts-based sessions at your institutions to meet your local organizational and curricular needs;
-Developing a detailed action plan for your ongoing integration of VTS techniques and mindsets.
-Cultivating partnerships and friendships with like-minded colleagues throughout the world.
Luminary guest speakers include Dr. Kamna Balhara; Dr. Neal Baer; Cheryl Giscombe, RN, PhD; and Dr. Meg Chisolm.
Course directors are Dr. Joel Katz; Corinne Zimmermann, MA, MEd and Dabney Hailey, MA.

This highly interactive course will be facilitated on Tuesdays, 11am – 2pm EST, on the following dates:
September 24: Introduction to Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS)
October 8: VTS & Clinical Practice
October 22:Thinking
November 5; Empathic Communication
November 19: Teams
December 3: Anti-Racism Education
December 17: Conversations Across Differences
January 7, 2025: Creating Partnerships with Museums
January 21, 2025: Facilitative Leadership
Feb 4. 2025: Well-being
Feb 18, 2025: Bringing it all Together

Further information and registration.

Please email Corinne Zimmerman with any questions.

Katie Biddle, NOAH member and Program Director of the Dr. Robert L. A. Keeley Healing Arts Program at Carilion Clinic in Virginia, was inspired to start the “Bells of Hope” initiative to honor their healthcare workers in Southwest Virginia after a weekly NOAH Creative Response Forum. She invites other organizations to join in this effort that will continue indefinitely. Read on for more about this story from the Healing Arts Program:

“The Dr. Robert L. A. Keeley Healing Arts Program at Carilion Clinic is working with Carilion Community Outreach to spread the word about “Bells of Hope” (#BellsofHope), an effort to honor all health care workers in Southwest Virginia who are continuing their important work at this challenging time.

This project is especially relevant for our healthcare system, whose name, Carilion, is based on an instrument – the carillon. This large instrument, usually housed in a tower, consists of twenty-three or more bells that play together in harmony. The underlying metaphor is that of “working together in harmony.” 

We are asking that the community serve as our carillon during this time. All establishments in our community that have working bell towers or the capacity to safely ring bells out of doors are being asked to participate. They will ring their bells for one minute at shift change each day – 7a.m. and 7p.m. Community members are encouraged, as they hear the bells ringing, to send out a thought, intention, prayer, or energy of gratitude for our health care workers.

In certain areas across our region, the bells may be heard ringing synchronously over a wide area. We hope our health care workers will experience the ringing and be reminded of the community’s gratitude and support of their work.

This effort began today — Monday, March 23 and will continue indefinitely.”

Here is a short video about the project:

https://youtu.be/Xv1lEl5tyAs

Art with a Heart in Healthcare (AWAHIH) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to arts and healing. Six days a week, AWAHIH’s team of Artists-in-Residence, volunteers, and interns provide personalized, fine art sessions to patients and their families at the hospital bedside, in outpatient clinic waiting rooms, and in inpatient hospital playrooms.

Amid COVID-19, while AWAHIH cannot be in healthcare settings, their team of talented artists are finding alternative modes of engaging patients with fine art experiences. A few creative ways AWAHIH is accomplishing this is by supplying patients with art to-go bags filled with art materials, providing pre-recorded video art sessions, and creating custom, printable coloring pages. The video art sessions guide patients through art projects that can be done using supplies found in the art to-go bags. These resources are all free and available on their website for anyone to access and enjoy!

AWAHIH’s intent is to continue bringing joy and creativity to patients and to carry out their mission of humanizing the high-tech atmosphere of clinical settings, empowering patients by giving them choices in their creative process, and enhancing the healing process for patients and their families.

For more information, visit https://www.artwithaheart.info/