Healing Arts Symposium
Healing Arts Symposium
How are the arts a vital investment in our physical, mental, and social health? Join leading voices in healthcare, cultural organizations, government, and the UN, to discuss the arts as a new frontier and necessary partner in health and wellbeing.
FREE
Met Museum online
November 14, 2021 | 10:30 am
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Speaker details

See below for more details.

How to watch

Watch on The Met's YouTube channel or Facebook page. No registration required.

Presented by

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, NY

Event Schedule

Welcome
10:30–10:45 am

Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director, The Met
Audrey Azoulay, Director-General, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Heidi Holder, Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chair of Education, The Met

Live Painting
Almigdad Aldikhaiiry, artist

Performance
10:45–11 am

GuavaTones ChoirThe Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School
Dalia Sakas and Michelle Trovato, codirectors
Alex Herrera, alto
Matthew Herrera, soprano
Maya Graves, soprano
Madeline Mau, soprano
Diana Murray, alto
Vinnie Wang, soprano

Discussion
11–11:15 am
Healing Arts Leadership

Christopher Bailey, Arts and Health Program Lead, WHO
Nisha Sajnani, Founding Codirector, Arts & Health @NYU, Chair, Creative Arts Therapies Consortium, and Associate Professor and Director, Program in Drama Therapy, New York University
Stephen Stapleton, Founding Director, CultuRunners/The Future is Unwritten

Performance
11:15–11:20 am
Searching, Supporting, Becoming

Da Hyun Kim, Karli O’Connell, Kiana Robinson, Colson Lynn, dancers
Rafailia Bampasidou, composer
Deborah Damast, choreographer, Clinical Associate Professor and Director, Dance Education Program, New York University

11:20–11:30 am
Invited Speaker

Patrick Kennedy, former congressman and mental health advocate

Panel
11:30–12:10 pm
Guiding Policy to Advance the Arts and Health

Susan Magsamen, (Chair) Executive Director, International Arts + Mind Lab, Johns Hopkins University, Codirector, NeuroArts Blueprint
Ernesto Ottone, Assistant Director-General for Culture, UNESCO
Aduke Gomez, Chair, Art4life Steering Committee, Lagos State Government, Ministry of Health, Nigeria
Lisa Colley, Manager, Cultural Strategy, City of Sydney, Australia
Renée Fleming, soprano and arts and health advocate
Sunil Iyengar, Director, Office of Research and Analysis, National Endowment for the Arts
Christopher Bailey, Arts and Health Program Lead, WHO

Performance
12:10–12:30 pm
Live and In Color

Devanand Janki, Artistic Director, Live and In Color
Julianne B. Merrill, Music Director
Andréa Burns, actor and singer
Jonathan Burke, actor and singer
Riki Stevens, singer-songwriter and musician

Global Examples of Arts and Health
12:45–1:45 pm

Music Interventions for Depression and Dementia in Elderly Care, Australia
Centre for the Arts in Human Development, Canada
Common Threads Project, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Nepal
Slow Art for HospitalsikonoTV, Germany
ContagionScience Gallery Bengaluru, India
Dia Mehta Bhupal, Corona Quilt Project, The Art Lab Studio, Nila House, India
Hamwe Festival, University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda
Arts for the Blues, evidence-based creative psychological therapy for depression, United Kingdom
Black Theatre United with Vanessa Williams, “Stand For Change,” United States
Arts and Health Stories, World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe

Project Presentation
1:45–2 pm

Introduction, Navina Haidar, Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah Curator in Charge of the Department of Islamic Art, The Met
Ark Re-imagined: Rashad Salim

Panel
2–2:30 pm
Panel: Measuring the Health Benefits of the Arts

Nisha Sajnani, (Chair) Founding Codirector, Arts and Health @NYU, Chair, Creative Arts Therapies Consortium, and Associate Professor and Director, Program in Drama Therapy, New York University
Daisy Fancourt, Associate Professor, Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health, University College London
Raquel Chapin Stephenson, Associate Professor, Art Therapy Coordinator, Department of Graduate Expressive Therapies, Lesley University, Cambridge
Rainbow Ho, Professor, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, University of Hong Kong
Joke Bradt, Professor and Program Director, Creative Arts Therapies, College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University
Emmeline Edwards, Director, Division of Extramural Research, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

Project Presentations
2:35–3:20 pm

Hospital Rooms, Tim A. Shaw and Niamh White
Art Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease, Dr. Alberto Cucca and Dr. Marygrace Berberian
MEDRhythms, Brian Harris
Miss Kendra Programs, Dr. David Johnson and Dr. Hadar Lubin

Break
3:20–3:40 pm


Performance
3:40–3:50 pm
Synchrony

Mercy Sanni, Eva Rayas-Gribben, Sean McGowan, CultuRunners speakers
Adam D-F. Stevens, drama therapist and Idalmis Garcia Rodriguez, drama therapist and artist
Jasmine Edwards, creative arts therapy coordinator, Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department, Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital
Max Durrant, drama therapy student, NYU Steinhardt

Panel
3:50–4:25 pm
The Art of Care

Heidi Holder, (Chair) Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chair of Education, The Met
Chhaya Chhoum, Executive Director, Mekong NYC
Ana Bess Moyer Bell, Executive Director, 2nd Act, Inc.
Mohamad Hafez, artist
Swarupa Anila, Senior Vice President for Exhibition and Gallery Development, Royal Ontario Museum

Project Presentations
4:25–4:50 pm

Campfire Project, Jessica Hecht, Katie Flahive, Colette Cavanagh, Orlando Pabotoy, Dave Hugo, Nezih Antakli, Mohamed Eldebek
Verbatim Performance Lab, Joe Salvatore and Keith Huff
Cartas Sonoras Para Cuerpos Celestes, Cátedra Bergman, Isabel Toledo, Aristeo Mora de Anda, Mariana Gándara

Looking Ahead
4:50 pm

Christopher Bailey, Arts and Health Program Lead, WHO
Andrew Davis, Founding Dean, Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts, University of Houston

Closing Remarks
Heidi Holder, Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chair of Education, The Met

Image: Almigdad Aldikhaiiry, Tribulations Influx (detail), 2021 / courtesy of the artist and The Metropolitan Museum of Art