Alie Wickham

It’s been awhile since a post has gone up.  I apologize for that, however, this delay in posting is not just from my lack of time, but also from my lack of motivation to continue these posts.  I am going to be frank and honest with all of you: These Green Paper posts can ONLY make a difference with EVERYONE’S help!! This means you! I could suggest improvements, and attempt to facilitate discussions as much as I want – I love talking about the arts in healthcare, it’s my passion! However, how are we supposed to grow and be innovative thinkers as a field without the input of all of you? Ladies and gentlemen, artists and healthcare providers, students and professionals, it is now your time to step up…do you want me to keep writing and suggesting topics of discussion? PLEASE RESPOND! Thank you!

Now for the post…

The following statement comes from the “Moving Forward” section of the Arts in Healthcare Green Paper:

Arts in healthcare is steadily moving forward. Increasingly, healthcare administrators are not only welcoming but also financially supporting arts programming in their institutions. Medical and nursing schools see the value in incorporating arts in healthcare courses or content to help their students develop essential skills such as observation and communication. Arts institutions, schools, and colleges are partnering with healthcare organizations to provide arts programming and health promotion experiences in community settings.

From reading this portion of the Green Paper, I thought to myself, “Wow, our field sounds like we are doing great! So many different types of organizations and institutions are interested in partnering with us, and the field is substantially growing.  But at the same time, why do I feel like we are still struggling so much?”  Don’t get me wrong, I understand that every field has the potential to grow more, even the ones that are already highly respected and significantly impacting.  But it seems to me that if the former statements highlighted in bold are to be kept in this paper, shouldn’t this be the case for the majority of the healthcare institutions and organizations, the majority of medical and nursing schools, and the majority of arts institutions, schools, and colleges around the world? This is a worldwide field, the Society for the Arts in Healthcare is an international organization, and this paper must represent the majority of the voices who are a part of it, and those who have not yet come to understand or are aware of the power of the arts to enhance the healing process and environment.

I appreciate the optimism of the paper as it claims we are steadily moving forward.  However, as a young professional who pursued the implementation of an arts in healthcare program at a community hospital in western Massachusetts, and was turned down by the VP of Human Resources after being so highly encouraged by nurse managers on many of the units, it is challenging for me to believe that as a field we are so “steadily” moving forward.  I realize this is just a small portion of the field as a whole, but never the less, why not use this paper to challenge the inherited optimism we may have from being a part of so many accomplishments.  I simply ask that we do not forget about the challenges that so many artists and healthcare providers, arts organizations and healthcare institutions, are having integrating the arts in healthcare as a significant focus in their work.

Alie Wickham

Well, our cycle for the PepsiRefresh grant has come to an end.  We ended at an excellent ranking of 117 – seriously folks; I’m not trying to be sarcastic.  Considering the hundreds of incredible ideas and passionate organizations (and individuals) we were up against, we should be proud.

However, this did get me thinking (and perfect timing considering I needed to get another post up)…

What would you do with a PepsiRefresh Grant???

I mean it! If you were given the opportunity to write a PepsiRefresh Grant ($5,000 to $250,000), what would you write the grant for and how would you design whatever project or mission you were trying to get funded? However, here is the challenge:

In the spirit of looking to the future, and the resourceful Green Paper given to us to work from, how would you use the challenges posted in the paper or via the arts in healthcare listserv (hospital advocacy, funding, certificates and degrees, research, etc.) to develop the “perfect” future of an arts in healthcare project, program or intervention/resolution to one of the challenges listed above?

I challenge you to sincerely think about this – are you up for it???  Let’s hear your voice!!

The first half of their interview can be found here.

Alie Wickham

Hey Bloggers!!

Alright – the field of Arts in Healthcare needs your help!! Here is the deal:

The Society for the Arts in Healthcare (the international “umbrella” organization for our field) is in the running for a $25,000 Pepsi Refresh grant – which is AWESOME!! However, we (meaning the Society) cannot get this grant alone.  We need EVERYONE’S help. The best part is that getting involved is simple – all you have to do is VOTE! So, how do you do this?? Simply follow the directions at http://www.refresheverything.com/artsinhealthcare – and….VOTE!!!!

Now I am sure you are wondering what this grant is for, right?

Artist Registry: How would you rather spend your time in a hospital—anxiously staring at drab walls or calming your nerves with vibrant art and creative activities? The answer is obvious, especially for our members who know the healing power of art. The Society’s new artist registry will connect hospitals with artists to enhance the patient experience, while supporting artist employment and promotion.

Simply – this grant will bring art into the healthcare environment and provide artists with more job opportunities.  What could be better than that?? Actually getting the grant to do it! So, VOTE VOTE VOTE – EVERYDAY!!!!

Thanks everyone – happy creating!!!

Alie Wickham

It has been awhile since I posted, much longer than I had expected, and I have a couple of thoughts in regards to this unexpected break that I have taken:

1. I’m hoping that since I’ve last posted something, some of you have taken the time to process previous posts, and are hopefully ready to shout out what you have been wanting to say since the last time I posted a discussion topic.
2. WHY HAS NO ONE SAID ANYTHING IN THE LAST MONTH?? I realize I am partially to blame for this, but, I am going to agree with another fellow Amabassador of mine – Mike Gagliardo, Strings…. We cannot do this alone!!

I believe another Ambassador (Jennifer Armstrong, Leadership) used this as an example of why us Ambassadors cannot do this alone:  As leaders, we reach for the sky.  However, at some point or another, our arms are going to get tired.  We will either a) become to exhausted and burned out to move on, or b) look from one side to the next hoping to find someone who is willing to stick by us and raise their arms up as well.

So, I ask the simple question….Is ANYONE out there who is willing to make some noise about the future of this field and reach for the sky, too?? Furthermore, if you are out there, where are you? How can we find you or find others who are interested in sharing their thoughts about the future of this field? There is a future, but unless we start thinking about how we are going to shape it now, the future will soon become the present, and our ideas and discussion about the future will not have the opportunity to happen; they will simply have to take place and hope everything goes as we imagined it would.  However, if we talk about it now, couldn’t we make our imagine a little more concrete?

PLEASE – say something, and let us (the Ambassadors) know you are there.  We want to hear from you, we HAVE to hear from you – YOU, the future and present life of this field!!! So speak up and share your voice…trust me, I’m sure my voice will start to get on some of your nerves, eventually.  I would prefer to avoid this.

What do you want to be the next discussion topic?

Now, for the discussion topic of the week.  Continuing the theme from my previous post – looking at the importance of our current and future leaders being able to recognize how to equally relate the arts (and artists) with the healthcare (and healthcare providers) – I found a sentence from the Green Paper that I thought a discussion could build from:

In the first paragraph of the “Summary of Research” section, it says:

“Conducting effective research in the field requires researchers who are experienced in arts in healthcare methods and techniques, as well as funding from sources that recognize their potential.”

I would first like to clarify, and I hope most of you would agree, that the word “researchers” is referring to our present and future researchers, not just the future ones.  Just because these discussions focus on the future of our field, does not mean we cannot implement these ideas sooner rather than later.  Really implementing these ideas now merely allows us to remove what does not work and spend more time developing what does.  Second, this is a perfect opportunity for those who are “researchers” and/or “funding resources” to take the time to step it up and explain to the rest of us (in your own language) what you would like to hear to be convinced of the importance of the arts in healthcare so that 1)As a researcher, you can conduct the appropriate evidenced-based studies that is necessary to be considered plausible and 2)As a potential funder of the arts in healthcare, what type of numbers/information do you need to see or hear to feel confident that your finances are going towards an worthwhile cause.

The answer from the researcher versus the answer from the potential funders will be different – I expect it to be and want it to be.  This does not mean that there will not be some type of similarity, but I do not expect the answers to be alike.

Happy Blogging!!

Now, I believe I know which two communities Karin is referring to.  However, Karin, if you read this and I am incorrect, please feel free to let me know.  The two communities that come to my mind from this response are:

1) Arts   2) Healthcare

It is true – the leaders of our field must understand both sides, equally, and have similar empathy for each of them.  The arts in healthcare are most impacting when they work as a compliment for one another. Just like in arts in education – they are most impacting when the artists understand what the educators need, and vice versa. Or with the Public Voice in Arts Advocacy – how can we even begin to describe the importance of the arts to politicians if we don’t first allow the artists to understand the “behind-the-scenes” of politics – I’m sure there is a bulk of information in politics that we never hear. 

However, in the research discussion we had at our conference, one of the most thematic conflicts we ran across was the impact of the terminology you would use according to the audience you are working with – are these folks administrators of a hospital, administrators of an arts organization, potential donors, scientists, or artists?? They could even be all of the above.

So, how do we begin to understand the most appropriate way to communicate with each side, and therefore allowing us to understand the empathy that each side needs? Once we can understand where everyone is coming from, we can then more clearly empathize with each of them and develop the terminology that is most useful in understand the key components in leading towards the strongest future of our field.

Who needs to be commenting on this discussion? EVERYONE that is involved!!!! Seriously, how do each of you – artists, administrators – healthcare and arts organizations, scientists, politicians, community advocates – feel about the arts?? TELL US IN YOUR OWN WORDS – we all want to know! That’s empathy, right??

Most recently, I read a post by another individual on the ArtsBlog.  I tried looking his name up again, but had no luck in finding it.  Therefore, if you read this blog, please introduce yourself – it was refreshing to listen to you speak your mind.

Therefore, the topic of discussion I would like to bring up is this:

“Leadership is a Verb, not a Noun.  Emerging leaders – i.e. students and young professionals – are developing in our field – the arts in healthcare, specifically – around the world.  The recent blog I read talked about current professionals needing to be more aware about taking on the “leadership” role, not just being in the “leadership” position.  Which, by the way, is possible for young professionals and students to do.  Therefore, I would like to have a discussion about the following question:

What can students and young professionals, specifically in the arts in healthcare, due to take on a leadership role (meaning the verb) when we are not in a “formal” leadership position??” 

I’ll wait to post my thoughts on this discussion until I hear from other folks as well.  I’m an advocate for student involvement, so I promise I have A LOT to say!

So, what do all of you have to say?

I have been waiting to make an “official” post until I could create a slightly organized pattern as to how these posts would go so that folks would know when to check if a new post has been published. I have decided, until the conversation gets going a bit more, I will publish one post about a specific portion of the green paper every other week, and a post about a general topic regarding the field in the weeks between. So, check the blog each Monday, and something new should be up.

Specific topic #1
Reading thru the green paper, I came across this sentence that I thought many of us could relate to:

“Changes in the American economic and healthcare systems, coupled with the growth of our aging populations, bring opportunities for expansion of the arts in healthcare into rural communities and the realms of public health, social services, and human services.”

It is clear, according to each of our prospective green papers, that we all believe in the importance of the arts integrated into a variety of professions. However, a challenge that our organization continually faces, although we are moving forward to find a solution to this obstacle, is how we can efficiently approach this idea. Should we be going straight to the source (i.e. the actual professions themselves and encourage social worker and public health professionals to integrate the arts) or should we be going to our students, the future of each of these professions?

Also, how have you seen the arts brought into rural communities around each of your areas? In the next post, I will speak on a project that an organization I work for was able to bring the arts to a rural community in the Florida panhandle – specifically to the seafood industry.

I believe each of these options – regarding bringing art directly to professionals versus first to the students – have their pros and cons, and would love to hear feedback as to which way you believe could be most impacting and effective.  The answer could even be that according to the profession the approach taken could be varied.

Thank you in advanced for your thoughts and discussion!