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Conference Explores Benefits of Art, Music in Health Care |
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 This watercolor was produced in the Art for Healing program by a patient who has suffered five cancer episodes in the past 20 years. The topic, says the anonymous artist, is secondary to her process of getting to the bottom of her feelings by focusing on her art.
The program, titled "The Artful Advocate," features workshops and talks intended to help participants make their hospitals more attractive and artistically therapeutic, as well as to provide guidance for artists and musicians who are part of a burgeoning national movement to use art to benefit patients, said Amanda Spielman, administrative manager in the Office of Community and Patient Relations and director of Stanford Hospital's art program, sponsored in part by longtime Stanford benefactors Helen and Peter Bing.
"The conference will focus on the practical components of developing a hospital art program, as well as offering a glimpse into the many innovative uses of art, music and literature in the health care environment," she said. Speakers and workshop leaders include Yasuo Harima, producer of the Able Art Movement, in Kobe, Japan; and Diane Zelman, professor of clinical psychology with the California School of Professional Psychology, in Berkeley. Also participating will be psychiatrist Alexander Badkhen and psychologist Mark Pevzner, co-founders and directors of the Harmony Institute of Advanced Studies in Psychology, in St. Petersburg, Russia. In recent years, Stanford Hospital has offered a variety of art programs, including the Art for Healing program, run by cancer survivor and artist Wendy Traber; the Bing Music Series, which offers musical performances several times weekly in the Atrium under the leadership of Judith Fields of community and patient relations; and the community-sponsored art program, which provides a variety of fine art and posters throughout the hospital. Tuition fees are reduced for those attending only the Friday lectures and workshops and also for members of the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, a nonprofit organization based in Hanover, N.H. For further information or to register, call the Office of Community and Patient Relations at (650) 723-7167. |
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"In the past few years, hospital leaders, physicians and patients have discovered that art and music in the hospital environment can help patients deal with their illnesses more effectively and possibly return to full functioning earlier. Healing art can be as simple as viewing pictures on the wall to help soothe the stress of waiting for a procedure, or it can be active involvement by patients, such as expressing their feelings through painting or sculpture under the guidance of trained artists," said Spielman.