Grantees
and Partners

The Art Therapy Project

Overview

The Art Therapy Project is a nonprofit providing group art therapy in a safe inclusive space for people in need of mental health services. Clients feel connected and inspired while exploring their personal journeys, increasing their self-awareness, and improving their quality of life.

Mental health services are not easily available to people in low-income and vulnerable communities. This is especially true for system-involved youth, those affected by domestic violence, young people in foster care, people in homeless shelters, the LGBQTIA+ community, or with medically complex conditions. Additionally, some seek services who are dealing with issues related to sexual assault or abuse, military service, substance use, as well as frontline medical service and caregiving.

Grant

Purpose: To provide general support to provide art therapy programs for groups referred from New York City community partners.

The Illumination Fund provides general operating support to help cover the costs associated with professional development, research and related conference presentation expenses, and expanding fee-for-service programming including Continuing Education and Wellness Workshops. In addition, funds help underwrite systems upgrades and marketing materials.

Impact

Since September 2011, The Art Therapy Project has provided free art therapy to more than 10,000 trauma survivors in New York City as well as hundreds of frontline and essential workers. In 2023, the organization directly served 860+ clients (a 15% increase over the prior year) and returned to in-person client art exhibitions, including Emerging Self, one of the most powerful exhibitions curated to date.

The Art Therapy Project partners with more than two dozen nonprofit organizations to identify clients who would benefit from receiving art therapy services. In collaboration with their partners, The Art Therapy Project offers 30+ weekly art therapy groups plus several special wellness workshops. In addition, The Art Therapy Project:

• Developed a new documentation tool to better communicate the intentionality of art therapy and offer insight into the subtle nuances of the therapy component of the work. They were invited to present the tool and findings at three conferences.
• Completed a strategic planning process and began implementation.
• Organized and curated four client art exhibitions.