Illumination Fund launches Arts in Health initiative grantee videos and previews Progress Report
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September 27, 2024In 2018 the Illumination Fund launched its Arts in Health initiative with grants to organizations across New York City working at the intersection of the arts and healthcare. To enhance understanding of the initiative and its impact we created this series of videos about each of the grantees and their work.
Along with the videos, you can learn more about the Arts in Health initiative and its impact in our 2018-2024 progress report, which will be published in October 2024. Send us an email at info@lmtif.orgif you want to get a hard copy when it’s released.
The series is just beginning. We will be posting new videos on our other Arts in Health grantees over the coming months. In the meantime, let us know in the YouTube comments what inspires you or what you find especially interesting and important.
Youth impacted by the justice system face challenges in nearly every aspect of their lives—from employment to housing to education to mental health. Artistic Noise brings the power of artistic expression to youth impacted by the justice system through arts programming and arts therapy in the Harlem community. Participants develop their creative abilities and business skills through arts workshops, arts education, and an annual microgrant project. Youth are given a stipend, full access to the facilities, and opportunities with partner institutions: School of Visual Arts, MoMA, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Columbia University.
The mission of Arts & Minds is to improve wellbeing for people with dementia and their care partners through meaningful engagement with art. Arts & Minds partners with museums to provide art activities that create positive, emotional and cognitive experiences, enhance verbal and nonverbal communication, reduce isolation, and build community.
Discover the power of storytelling in this video about the Changing Minds Young Filmmaker Program and Festival, a program of Community Access. The initiative empowers young people to share their personal mental health journeys, offering fresh perspectives on the topic. By shedding light on these uplifting but sometimes difficult stories, the films in Changing Minds help combat stigma by shifting the narratives surrounding mental health issues, and changing how we think and talk about mental health issues.
Founded in Geneva, Switzerland, and now based in New York City, Common Threads Project helps women heal from the psychological effects of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the context of war and displacement. Using an arts-based therapeutic practice bringing women together to sew their unspeakable stories into images in cloth, the program takes its inspiration from an ancient practice found in diverse cultures. This video offers viewers the opportunity to hear from organizational leaders and practitioners about how this groundbreaking methodology helps to address trauma and foster community.
Dance for PD®, a program of the Mark Morris Dance Group, is an award-winning, research-backed program that uses dance to welcome individuals with Parkinson’s disease and their families to experience the joys and benefits of physical and creative expression–while addressing symptom-specific concerns related to balance, cognition, motor skill, depression and physical confidence. This captivating video shares heartwarming stories from participants and leaders in the program who show us how the programs have changed their lives and outlook.
Darkness RISING Project’s mission is to provide direct mental health resources to the Black community. They partner with mental health providers, educators, and Black performers from the Broadway community to create events that help reduce stigma, and offer seminars, workshops, and direct resources. This video is an inspiring look into how Darkness RISING Project uses music to broach serious topics and raise awareness about free mental health resources that are available to the community.
People living with severe mental illness are often marginalized and stigmatized. Fountain House Gallery and Studio provides studio space, art education and mental health support to people who might not otherwise be able to thrive as artists. This video explores the inspiring stories of contemporary artists living with mental illness and how this not-for-profit exhibition gallery and collaborative workspace supports their careers and creative visions.
NYC Health + Hospital’s Arts in Medicine programs integrate creative engagements into clinical and community settings to improve patient experiences and outcomes as well as the resiliency of medical professionals, family members and other caregivers. The Arts in Medicine programs aim to foster the emotional well-being of patients, families, employees, and the greater community and to improve the healthcare experience by integrating the arts and humanities throughout the NYC Health + Hospitals system to promote healing, wellness, and engagement.
Pregones/ Puerto Rican Traveling Theater (PRTT) is a performing ensemble and arts presenter in The Bronx and Manhattan. Pregones/PRTT’s Abrazo / Embrace is a two-year initiative to improve community wellness and mental health in the South Bronx. This video gives viewers insight into how Abrazo / Embrace used the interactive technique of Forum Theater to create new work—encouraging audiences to offer feedback about what they are witnessing on stage and then using the dialogue in improvisational scenes to foster empathy and compassion.
Theater is an especially powerful tool to generate catharsis for audiences. Theater of War Productions is a social impact company that works with leading film, theater, and television actors to present dramatic readings of seminal plays—from classical Greek tragedies to modern and contemporary works—followed by town hall-style discussions designed to confront social issues by drawing out raw and personal reactions to themes highlighted in the plays. In this video audiences are introduced to the technique that fosters these discussions and offers transformation and healing.