Art & Healing Program
The power of art
Class curriculum was intentionally designed to create an atmosphere of trust and nurturing. This enabled participants to not only learn new skills and artistic techniques, but to also see the creative process as a tool for healing, meditation, and positive self expression.
The results of this project were striking. Participating students felt empowered by this communal experience and have resulted in ongoing positive change in self-worth for some individuals.
In 2014 we partnered with Touchstone Mental Health, a nonprofit with a new facility and offices newly located in Seward. Touchstone works with people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, and borderline personality disorder who live in the community, providing one-on-one rehabilitation skills and community support. Their interest in the healing power of the arts beautifully lined up with our interests for partnership programs, and we agreed to do classes with their population in our studio space.
During 2012/2013 People Incorporated, an organization offering services to adults with mental illness, partnered with us to receive an Arts Access grant from the MN State Arts Board. This program offered arts instruction in our studio classrooms specifically for their client population.
Articulture designed a program with Wayside House, a treatment center exclusively for gender-specific needs of low-income women. Giving arts access to their clients allowed them to learn how the arts can change and enhance positive recuperative behaviors. Also funded by the State Arts Board, this project enabled a full year of arts programming through visual arts, poetry, and journaling as tools for self-discovery, reflection, and healing.