John R. Oishei Foundation supports new partnership
The young girl asks Jill, the dance
instructor to help with her ballet
warm-ups. But they’re not in a studio,
they’re standing in the girl’s
hospital room – the night-gowned
girl mirroring Jill’s dance movements. There
is a quiet, calm focus in the room that relaxes
and inspires the young girl. Meanwhile, in the
pediatric dialysis clinic, actors in huge animal
costumes interact with rapt patients.
This is quite different from what most of us
experience during hospital visits. While we
know that caregivers work diligently, we still
yearn for bygone days with the good nurse
bedside, drawing us out, calming us, helping
us heal. Today’s hospital staff would love to
have that kind of time, yet economic realities
are prohibitive.
The beginning
Throughout history, people have come to
realize the importance of approaching healing
differently – not supplanting modern medicine
but enhancing it through the arts. Tom
Burrows, UB Center for the Arts Executive
Director, stepped into this world two years
ago at a Society for the Arts in Healthcare conference,
and it changed him forever.
“At the conference, on a hospital tour, I saw
how visual, performing, and literary artists
working with dedicated caregivers could benefit
patients, families and staff,” remembers
Mr. Burrows. “I knew right then that UB Center
for the Arts should use its expertise to find
a community healthcare partner and establish
a comprehensive Arts in Healthcare program
to help Western New Yorkers in hospitals.”
Burrows found The Center’s project muse
in Jill Sonke-Henderson. An incredibly
knowledgeable and generous colleague, Jill is
co-founder and director of Center for the Arts
in Healthcare Research and Education at University
of Florida, Gainesville, and performing
arts coordinator/artist in residence at Shands
Hospital’s Arts in Medicine. Jill is now also UB
Center’s consultant; it is she who told of the
teen doing ballet in the hospital.
Perfect partners
A team of Center for the Arts staff worked
over a year on shaping a program for Buffalo.
The team – in addition to Burrows and Sonke-
Henderson - includes Katherine Trapanovski
(director of outreach/events), Sandra Fazekas
(associate director), Carrie Veltri (director of
development), Dave Wedekindt (director of
marketing/publicity), Jamie Enser (director
of operations/produced events), and Rob
Falgiano (assistant director). The entire Center
for the Arts team has been energized by
the potential of this collaboration.
The Center team recently announced a
John R. Oishei Foundation grant of $287,182
in support of the new Arts in Healthcare
initiative, to establish a full-spectrum arts
program at Women and Children’s Hospital
of Buffalo. Included are a Residency Program
of professional artists trained to work with
patients, plus a Touring Artists Program of
performances in the hospital from the
Center’s professional season yet geared to
patients.
“We are so pleased to partner with UB and
bring this innovative program to life in Western
New York,” states Cheryl Klass, Women’s
and Children’s Hospital President. “The initiative
will continue to enhance the healing environment
we provide at our hospital.”
What’s ahead
UB Center for the Arts is keenly aware of
Arts in Healthcare research. The Center will
encourage and facilitate research opportunities
as well as curriculum development as part
of its Arts in Healthcare initiative. Contact
Katherine Trapanovski at 645-6754, ext. 1388,
or ktrap@buffalo.edu to learn more.
Better Healthcare
Through The Arts
John R. Oishei Foundation supports new partnership
“The arts contribute in vital ways to UB’s impact
on the world around us. The Arts in Healthcare
program is a vivid example of the power of
the public research university, working in tandem
with our partner institutions across the region,
to make a meaningful and lasting difference in
the communities we serve.We are proud to join
with the Women and Children’s Hospital
of Buffalo to foster an arts-enhanced healing
environment for the benefit of patients and
caregivers throughout the region, and we are
grateful for the Oishei Foundation’s strong support
of this visionary Center for the Arts program.”
– JOHN B. SIMPSON, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO
There was a brief mention of the grant from the Oishei Foundation in today's Buffalo News:
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/232528.html
The grant was also announced in the December 17 Business First email update,
and should appear in an upcoming print issue.
It's also on the UB home page - www.buffalo.edu
And we'll be the first venue outside the Buffalo city limits to host an Erie
County Executive inauguration:
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/231686.html
