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Friend,

The ability to comfort, console, communicate, sustain, uplift and inspire are some of the most enduring qualities of the arts.  It is also true that they contribute to the actual health and well-being of people and to the healing process itself in ways that reduce the need for pain medication, doctor's visits and hospital stays.  Increasingly, these qualities are being put to use in health care facilities everywhere.  Here in New Jersey our experts in the arts and in medicine are forging partnerships, conducting research, implementing strategies and getting incredible results. We are learning more everyday about the positive impact of the arts on people with illnesses like cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's as well as on those who have experienced serious trauma. 

The arts assist an integrative and preventative approach to healthcare by building self-esteem, identity and belonging; connecting people and celebrating life.  They provide a safe place in which one is invited to be creative, expressive and open-minded, things that are integral to the health of individuals and the communities they live in.

There is so much work being done in New Jersey to further our knowledge of the healing powers of the arts.  The New Jersey State Council on the Arts provides support and funding for organizations and projects that are blazing these trails and making a difference.  I'd like to share with you some of the amazing and moving ways that the arts and the work of Council grantee organizations contribute to the overall health of New Jersey.

Warmly,
Carol Ann Herbert
Chair, NJ State Council on the Arts

MFAS

The Arts Heal Body and Mind

"They changed the weather" remarked a resident of Laurelton Village, on a particularly stormy day, when asked what he thought of the performers from the Algonquin Theatre.  Algonquin Arts presents a wide range of arts programming to the citizens of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, including the Stage One Series, a music program that features top quality artists who travel to long-term care facilities to perform for the residents, often living with a form of dementia.  Mary Lou Dullon, activity director at Laurelton Village, is amazed at how music can reach even the most withdrawn residents.  "You can't have a conversation with them, but you put music on and they just start singing because they remember the words" she said.

Dr. Martin Gizzi, of the New Jersey Neuroscience Institute and Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board of Music For All Seasons commented on the power of music to not only bring out the best in patients, but also in their caregivers.
"The quality of life of patients with dementia is affected by depression, apathy, agitation, sleep difficulties, loss of autonomy and social isolation.  There are strong anecdotal reports that these conditions can be ameliorated with regular exposure to live music.  Such amelioration is expected also to contribute to a reduction in caregiver stress, thus reducing employee turnover. This should also reduce both infection and hospitalization rates among long-term care residents."

The NJSCA supports groundbreaking partnerships among top experts in the arts and medical fields who join together to explore different ways to use the arts as a wellness tool for enhancing the quality of life for everyone.  Convenings such as the Healing Art and Science of Music Conference presented jointly by Music for All Seasons, the JFK Medical Center, the NJ Neuroscience Institute and Seton Hall University's School of Graduate medical Education brings new research discoveries to the field revealing the role of music in preventing and mediating illness.

"When words fail, art communicates" remarked Freeholder Chairman Rick Proctor at the second annual Visual Arts and the Mind conference hosted by the Union County Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.  The conference was a forum for revealing new strategies on how to use the arts to reduce stress and anxiety, cope with trauma and work with at-risk communities.

 algonquin arts

The Arts Heal Communities

Ongoing research from the US Department of Health and Human Services proves the effectiveness of arts-based programming for reducing at-risk behavior by troubled teens.  In response to these findings the Institute for Arts and Humanities Education in New Brunswick offers a program called Healing Through the Arts, a series of arts and lifestyle workshops designed to foster a positive sense of self and teach and teamwork.

The arts can strengthen human compassion.  In Bloomfield the 12 Miles West Theatre Company presents performances like In the Shadow of My Son, a play that features the powerful words of women who have suffered from postpartum depression.  The women express their struggles with isolation, loss of identity and shame and ultimately offer themselves and the viewer validation and hope.  The playwright said she wrote the play "with hopes of finding a way to turn pain into something healing and beautiful."

Since the tragedies of September 11th the main stage of the Walt Whitman Center in Camden has served as the location for an annual city-wide commemorative program in honor of the loss that occurred on that day.  Motivated by the belief that music has the capacity to heal deep emotional wounds, the Whitman Center commissioned a unique project called For the Healing of Nations to be performed on September 11th, 2006.  The performance will include inspirational dance and music performed by both well known jazz artists and Camden students and residents.

Institute for the Arts and Humanities Education

The Arts Empower Healthy Lives

The arts empower people of all ages to make creative choices, enjoy success and express themselves.  At Creative Heartwork, a regrantee of the Arts Council of the Morris Area, children who have experienced serious trauma, illness or disability are encouraged to reexamine their experiences and emotions and learn to adjust to circumstances beyond their control.  In a safe, artistic environment they learn not only how to cope, but how to thrive.

Artists with disabilities are empowered to create beyond the restrictions of their everyday lives in the Matheny School and Hospital's Arts Access program.  It provides opportunities for unrestrained self-expression in the visual, literary and performing arts by bringing together disabled individuals with facilitators to give the artists the freedom to make any artistic choice they desire.

"I want to dance to show people what I can do, so people don't see my disability or my wheelchair - so they can see me." Jess Evans, Arts Access artist with disabilities.

creative heartwork

The Benefits of the Arts in Healthcare

• Music reduces anxiety, depression and perception of pain in hospital patients
• Aesthetic environments shorten postoperative recovery and hospital stay
• Visual art improves observational and motor skills in medical practitioners
• Dancing improves circulation, coordination and alertness in elders
• The use of literature, creative writing and poetry with mental health patients enables them to regain control over their inner world, contributing to their well-being
• The arts help nursing and medical staff to understand the cultural, social, ethnic and economic factors influencing the behavior of their patients
• Arts intervention has been shown to increase a patient's comfort and to significantly control blood pressure levels

Click here for more information on the healing power of the arts