Every child and teen that OKCMOA works with at SSM Behavioral Health painted a paper or wood piece and was asked the question, “How do you light the world?” Their answers were written on each piece of wood/paper and assembled to create the “Light” starburst.
OKCMOA’s Healing Arts outreach program provides art education, enrichment in the visual arts, and a creative outlet to children who may not otherwise be able to experience the Museum due to hospitalization. Through our mission, we take art outside the Museum walls to provide hands-on art-making activities to patients to enhance their quality of life and provide cultural engagement.
Art enrichment is a missing element at many health care facilities. The Healing Arts outreach program provides support for arts education where none existed before. Therapists at SSM Behavioral Health report that 100 percent of projects provide enhanced visual art skills, mood improvement, and patient well-being.
OKCMOA first brought the Healing Arts outreach program to SSM Behavioral Health (formerly St. Anthony Behavioral Medicine) in 2012 and has continued to develop the program to best suit the needs and abilities of patients. Each month, Amanda Harmer, Manager of Outreach and Early Learning at OKCMOA, travels to SSM Behavioral Health to lead nearly 100 children and teens in a hands-on art-making project.
“Amanda brings supplies to do projects that we wouldn’t be able to do … the kids get to work with clay, paper, paints – all types of different textures,” said Julie Costilla, Therapeutic Recreation Spet at SSM Behavioral Health. “She’s great with the kids. Over the past seven years, she’s built relationships … these kids might not want to do something we (staff) ask them to do, but if they hear that Amanda is coming – they are all in. She means something to them.”
Art-making experiences provide an outlet for expression, dialogue, and creativity. They boost confidence and increase patients’ ability to relax. Museum staff offer tours to patients who are well enough to travel to the Museum, and our off-site programming is available at no cost to the participants or hospital.
“These kids are trying to overcome so many barriers. They have been traumatized and deprived of so much in their lives,” said Costilla. “Art opens doors and provides opportunities that they have never had … it gives them something to feel good about, and that’s important because most of them haven’t had a lot to feel good about in their short lives. Art gives them success and brings a sense of pride. Art is healing.”
The Healing Arts outreach program is made possible through support from Crawley Petroleum Corporation and the Oklahoma Art League.
Read the 2018-2019 Annual Report here.
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