Photo credit: Christina Eskridge
This fall, we held our eighth annual arts in health conference in Houston, Texas, in partnership with the Center for Performing Arts Medicine at Houston Methodist and the Katherine G. McGovern College of the Arts. The virtual day was held on Zoom. Our scholarship fund was increased this year thanks to generous donors and some incredible folks were able to join us at NOAHCON 24! These are their reviews.
“There is a lot of benefit from the intersection of art and medicine, especially to increase the mental and physical wellbeing of individuals and groups. There is a great need for funding to support such research around that intersection. I am bringing back to my practice loads of information about how certain arts such as dance and music and art museum visits can be helpful for developing communication, empathy, and observational skills in the medical field. I am also bringing with me helpful evaluation methods for my own work in determining how effective art programming is. Thanks for giving me this opportunity!” – Rejjia Camphor
Photo credit: Sharon Boyle
“The variety of art engagements across the US and the positive impact it has on communities are a reflection of how rich arts and health are, as well as how needed they are in all spaces. Moving forward, I will be more strategic about my arts and health activities in terms of impact and design. Also, I will lean further into the community.
I am extremely grateful to the entire NOAH team for the opportunity to participate in the conference as a scholarship recipient and for the welcoming environment that was facilitated throughout. I generally appreciated the topics and the ways of engagement for participants, from the Whova platform to the methods of in-person activities facilitated during the conference.” – Ryn Delpapa
“Biggest takeaways is that there are many passionate folks who are all trying to figure out similar challenges. I’m bringing back connections and ideas to ponder upon.” – Jennifer Kuo
Photo credit: Mel Cohn
“It wasn’t until attending NOAHCON that I truly recognized the arts as a vital “health behavior.” Art is a powerful tool with applications across a wide range of therapeutic and healthcare settings. It’s something that everyone in a hospital or healthcare environment should have access to, because it can significantly enhance well-being and recovery. At NOAHCON 2024, we tackled critical structural issues, such as systemic racism, mistrust in healthcare systems, and the pressing need for sustainable funding to support arts-based health programs and initiatives. These are topics that I plan to bring back to my practice at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. As a public health graduate student, I’m also interested in implementing some of the strategies and tactics I learned from the conference at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, to foster greater empathy and awareness among future healthcare workers and leaders.
I plan to utilize more data and metrics in my arts and health practices! I will also be more mindful about biases and uncomfortable scenarios that arts and music therapists may face in the hospital setting.
I loved the hands-on sessions. For instance, the small mural-making activity during the hospital tour and the zine-making session were both incredibly informative as well as enjoyable, and gave me something to do with my hands so I didn’t feel restless. My favorite session was Breathe-Move-Create-Reflect: we moved our bodies, learned to breathe correctly, and bonded with each other before wrapping up the conference.” – Haniya Shariff
Photo credit: Jennifer Kuo
“I will bring back how diverse and applicable the field is. A lot of new ideas and presentations helped demonstrate to me how the field has so much more to offer than I originally thought. I will be sure to approach academic and professional conferences differently. I had never been to a conference before and I was happy to be a part of this conference. I learned a lot about the field but also about how conferences work. In the future, I will be more aware of the time needed to get the most out of a conference and be more prepared with writing materials so I can not miss any important information. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I learned a lot about the field of Arts in Health but also a bit about the professional nature of things. I am only a graduate student so seeing professionals in a professional environment was an important learning experience. I had a great time and learned much about how these kinds of conferences work.” – Alexander M Kelly
Photo credit: UF Health Shands
“I don’t even know where to start! There were so many things that I saw that I was taken a-back with. The most important thing that I see myself reflecting on since the conference was ‘assessing the needs’ of the community spaces that I want to offer art services to. For instance, take the time to have more conversations with the community that will be primarily impacted, not just step in with these great ideas, but rather have the individuals make decisions based on what they want and need.
I will start slowing down after the events I initiate and write down names, continue with nurturing the relationships that I’ve formed and create a better catalog of partners. This will enhance how I will encourage my future art education students to approach project. A lot of documentation and reflection with the students after an event. This was a tremendous experience and I felt at home with the individuals I met. I felt even more in tune with conference attendees that I do with my art education conference people. The presentations I attended were powerful and it seemed like at every turn, there was a different ‘flavor’ to some of the things that I already think about and experiment with. It was fantastic. Thank you so much. My art education student, Zachary, was so inspired, as well. We will not forget this conference.” – Lilia Cabrera
Photo credit: Lateefat Odunuga
“The lessons and importance of arts and culture in health and the need to expand beyond just addressing disparities but implementing strategies that can be seen as effective to improve health outcomes. I hope to take this to my daily practice and preach the work of NOAH to people that I encounter. I love the connection with the network and I hope we can do more of in-person networking.” – Lateefat Odunuga
Photo credit: Jennie Schaeffer-Goldberg
“I’m reframing myself as an art educator, after calling myself a teaching artist for decades – tying back to my education and degree. I really valued learning the position that ALL art-making whether through a therapeutic modality or via a teaching artist is healing, that there was no polarization of roles. I hope to use some of the strategies learned in the dance and theatre programs to possible offer ice breakers in visual art studios / spaces. Additionally, the growing evidence of health and well being from art making is reinforcing my desire to grow my outdoor offerings in some way. I think if anything, this has opened my eye to exploring different roles for myself as an artist/art educator and look into other types of partnerships as well as possible further education. I was very impressed by the welcoming by most of the attendees – a high level of curiosity and willingness to connect. I came home with so many business cards of people I need to follow up with.” – Jennie Schaeffer-Goldberg
“There is just a lot to learn about the field. It was wonderful to get to meet people who have been working in this field for decades and who were so overwhelmingly generous with their advice. We are coming back with many connections and are equipped to ask the right questions moving forward. We have a few meetings set-up where we will be able to ask these informed questions to people who actually have the resources and connections to help us move forward. We are implementing a plan for sustainability. Up until now we have done everything out of pocket. We now have some visions for sustainable models that we can work from.” – Joshua Watson
Photo credit: Elysian (McNiff) Koglmeier
Photo credit: Common Threads
“I’m energized by opportunities to learn from and potentially collab with other institutions focusing on dance for dementia, dance within environments of care, and drumming for chemo brain. One thing I’ll do differently after NOAHCON 24 is pursue more partnerships with other organizations to expand our program offerings. Overall, I had an excellent experience at NOAHCON 24 and am already looking forward to next year!” – Lauren Arce
“I made roughly a dozen new connections with my target networking constituency: hospitals and clinics. Including Mayo, with whom I now have a meeting in a few weeks. I’m also grateful to have a broader sense of the arts + healing community generally. I’ll be more confident in what I have to offer. Its uniqueness really grabbed a lot of interest and engagement when I introduced it to folks at breakfast, lunch, etc. I gained a lot of subscribers and enthusiasts, despite my sense that literature is an outlier where arts + healing is concerned. What a refresh! I’m newly enthusiastic.” – Todd Boss
Photo credit: Christina Eskridge
I am extremely grateful to the scholarship sponsors for their generosity in providing opportunities for students and learners like myself to attend the annual conference. Supporting learners and early-career attendees is essential to inspire more individuals to enter and contribute to this field, and these scholarships play a vital role in making that possible. They give us the chance to connect with the community and expand our knowledge in meaningful ways.” – Shelly Xie
Photo credit: John Solet
“My biggest takeaways were the arts and humanities portions, and how we can train medical students and professionals to SEE. One thing I’ll do differently after the conference is collaborate more with out-of-state professionals! Wonderful experience – so glad to have been there on scholarship as it opened up new doors and ways of thinking and practicing for me. Thank you!!” – Rose Tylinski