Videos of the 2009 Conference

The Future of Arts in Healthcare from a Global Perspective

Naj Wikoff, Fulbright senior specialist and president emeritus of the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, Washington DC, will chart arts and health in the USA in the past two decades, highlighting international trends, influences and challenges.

Best Practice Models in Arts and Health Programming and Research in the USA

Paula Terry BS, Director, Office of AccessAbility, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington DC, has a substantial budget to establish and support arts and health leadership initiatives, and this presentation will showcase the best practice models in the USA.

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The American Museum Perspective

Carrie McGee, Community and Access Programs, Museum of Modern Art, New York - The development and outcomes of MoMA's health and wellness programs, since 1944, including its world-renown Alzheimer's Project, demonstrating that high calibre art programming positively impacts the physical, intellectual and emotional lives of participants.

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• Download Abstract PDF

Community Health: A Social Tonic

Mike White, M.Phil, MA, Senior Research and Development Fellow in Arts in Health, Centre for Medical Humanities and St Chad's College, University of Durham, UK.
Alison Clough, Director, Pioneer Projects, Bentham, UK

This presentation will consider how and why the field of arts and community health has developed, the characteristics of its practice and the challenges posed for evaluation, and will summarise what has been learnt from a number of case studies and other forms of research from the UK and elsewhere.

These two authorities on British art and community health completed residencies with Healthway Western Australia in 2008. In particular, Alison worked with indigenous communities in WA.

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Improvised Performance - Dr Brendan McPhillips - White

Creative Ageing

Susan Perlstein, Founder and Director of Education, National Center for Creative Aging, Washington DC and founder Elders Share the Arts, New York

Australia's aging population and growing prevalence of long-term health conditions makes strategies concerning healthy and happy aging an imperative for today. Coined 'creative ageing', Susan will present US policy issues, programs and results from the breakthrough research she conducted with Dr Gene Cohen.

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Aging through a Physician's Lens

Jeffrey Levine, MD, Gerontologist and Photographer, New York

This presentation weaves together themes of art and medicine, and concludes that geriatrics is the most humanistic of medical specialties. The talk raises questions about our system of medical education, training, and reimbursement which has led to the gap between needs of the growing elderly population and numbers of qualified caregivers.

A Safe Space for Scary Conversations

Molly Carlile is a registered nurse, counsellor, counselling supervisor and educator, committed to helping people have informed conversations about death and grief. She currently manages the largest metropolitan palliative care consortia in Victoria. Discussing death and grief with a patient can be extremely uncomfortable without the right communication tools. Mollie argues that the arts can significantly help when broaching terminal illness in a medical environment.

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Research in the Arts and Healthcare Meta-Analysis Results and an Agenda for Future Research

Cheryl Dileo, Professor of Music Therapy and Director, Arts and Quality of Life Research Center, Temple University, Philadelphia
Joke Bradt, Assistant Director, Arts and Quality of Life Research Center, Temple University, Philadelphia

Cochrane reviews on the effectiveness of arts and health, covering: 1) Music for people with coronary heart disease, 2) Music therapy for acquired brain injury, 3) Music for pre-operative anxiety, 4) Music for anxiety reduction in mechanically ventilated patients, 5) Music interventions for improving psychological and physical outcomes in cancer patients, 6) Dance therapy for improving psychological and physical outcomes in cancer patients, and 7) Music therapy for symptom relief and support in end-of-life care.

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Student Arts and Health Program

Gary Christenson, Director, Boynton Mental Health Clinic and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Medical School and Artistic Director, Center for Art and Medicine, University of Minnesota

A successful low-cost arts program addressing mental illness on a large university campus, and how this program can be adapted to other healthcare settings.

Performance - Dr Brendan McPhillips - Orange

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Plenary Presentations, Australian Arts and Health Awards and Priority Recommendations for the incorporation of the arts in healthcare policy at federal, state and local government level.

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Headlines don't tell the full story - The role of the media in promoting arts in healthcare

Clive Parkinson, Director, Arts for Health, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.

This paper will investigate how the arts and health agenda might better communicate through the media, offering examples of media manipulation and impact, and develop a pro-active approach to working with the media.

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