Arts in Health: First Aid Art Kits
nat rosasco • April 28, 2020
Providence St. Mary Medical Center and Providence St. Mary Foundation has partnered to fund Arts in Health: First Aid Arts Kit in response to the COVID -19 pandemic.
The First Aid Art Kits are being distributed by Population Health to patients in home isolation, community shelters, and to the hospital for both patients and caregivers. The First Aid Art Kits are accompanied by a card to say hello, public COVID-19 messaging, and a newsletter filled with artist-designed: writing prompts, creative process projects, art projects that can be built upon, and coloring pages. Providence St. Mary’s Foundation is also funding art project facilitation for patients over the phone by program artists.
First Aid Art Kits were created from art supplies purchased from community businesses and expanded upon by contracted local artists. Two community nonprofits have stepped forward to support the response. The local elementary arts education program, Carnegie Picture Lab has provided a space to assemble and additional supplies. The support umbrella ArtWalla is building a platform for both the artist’s prompts as video facilitation, and to learn about each artist’s mastery. Everything is being translated into Spanish and, potentially sign language, where needed for the videos.
Check out the follow media coverage of the project:
Public Art for Racial education is an organization that believes that public art has an important role in racial justice awareness. They commission and engage artists to create public art in and for each of their communities. Through public art and accompanying public programs, PARJE believes we can better understand our true history, and it can help us to appreciate the rich diversity of our human family and challenge us to be engaged in contemporary racial justice issues.
Nicole M Brewer is a passionate advocate for anti-racist theatre. She has spent the last fourteen years refining and practicing an inclusive method of theatre training and practices which she calls Conscientious Theatre Training (CTT). She has authored four articles about the need for the theatre industry to shift from racist and oppressive models to anti-racist and anti-oppressive.
The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture is building a world where every cultural organizer feels connected to and recognizes their critical role in a vibrant movement for liberatory change. The Art & Well-Being: Toward A Culture of Health is a free guide for artists who place their gifts at the service of healing, working for both individual and collective well-being, recognizing social justice as the foundation of a culture of health.
La CASA (Center for Arts, Self-determination, and Activism) is a transformative $33 million initiative by Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA) in Boston's South End.This four-story facility will consolidate IBA's diverse programs—including affordable housing, education, financial empowerment, and arts—under one roof, enhancing access and community outreach.Supported by a $20 million New Markets Tax Credits allocation and $12 million in tax-exempt bond financing led by TD Bank, La CASA exemplifies a strategic partnership aimed at fostering socio-economic mobility.Upon its anticipated completion in 2026, La CASA is projected to serve over 2,500 individuals annually through resident services and youth development, with an additional 5,000 benefiting from its arts programming, reinforcing its role as a beacon for Latino culture and community empowerment in Boston.
The Welman Project aims to support educators by making the reuse of materials a resource for creativity in the classroom, and to increase arts participation in underserved groups. They serve educators, artists, makers, and families through three main programs: the Educator Resource Program, the Curiosity Shop, and their Creative Reuse Education Program. They are dedicated to using the arts as a space for healing and confronting social injustice.
Art Against Racism is a virtual arts exhibition which aims to lift up the tremendous array of creative works made in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In doing so, project organizers hope that the exhibition will serve as an archive of the national artistic response to this historic moment.
