"Opportunities for reflection"
"The Quilters," an art therapy exercise, mother-baby singing groups and more...
Hi all,
Lauren Kingsland created the quilt in the photograph above. It appears in her book, "Healing Journey: Quilts about transformation in the presence of cancer.” Her NEW book “Hands On Mindfulness: How to use creative handwork to help you through challenging times” is also available now. Lauren is an educator (for the Smithsonian Associates, Montgomery College, among others) and an artist-in-residence with The Georgetown Lombardi Arts and Humanities Program. You can read more about Lauren’s work below.
This issue also highlights an interview with “The Quilters” director Jenifer McShane, whose new Netflix film explores how incarcerated men find healing by making quilts for children in foster care. You’ll find a simple art therapy exercise, insights into music therapy’s clinical benefits, and opportunities for creative connection—from mother-baby singing groups to global arts in health events.
News 📰
🎙️ The host of WBUR’s “Here and Now” interviews American Art Therapy president, Nadia Paredes about how making art can reduce anxiety and stress. The story includes a quick art therapy exercise.
🎥 London Arts and Health recently interviewed independent filmmaker, Jenifer McShane about her new documentary “The Quilters,” now available on Netflix. The film follows men in a Missouri maximum-security prison as they create quilts for foster children—an act that brings both redemption and mental health benefits.
🏥 This news feature in Nature Medicine explores arts prescribing as a health behavior and includes critical responses. “Both sides agree on the value of art for health.” Some worry about diverting funds from regular medical care without strong evidence to support specific art-based interventions.
🎶 This article spotlights the use of music therapy to ease pain. At University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, pharmacology and music work together. Psychiatrist Syed Amir Shah says, “Music therapy is one of the most important supportive therapies we have.”
🎥 In See Memory (available on PBS), painter Viviane Silvera uses animated art to depict how the brain forms, alters, and stores memories, focusing on themes of memory and PTSD. Her work combines 30,000 images with narration grounded in neuroscience research, including insights from Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel, to explore healing trauma by connecting the conscious and unconscious mind.
🏛️ In this interview historian Alicia Gutierrez-Romine discusses the strengths of Medical Humanities. Gutierrez-Romine explores how race, public health, and policy intersect, with a focus on California and the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. “Studying medical humanities,” she says, “provides opportunities for reflection, allows us to focus on empathy and emotions, and provides an outlet for us to grapple with ethical and moral issues—or perhaps, can help us identify patterns.”
Research 🔬
🌎 By reviewing global research, this study explores how participating in the arts can strengthen social connections and improve community well-being. The findings can inform the design of community-based arts programs.
📚 This book looks at art-based scientific research and science-infused artmaking. It highlights the cultural and social impact of exhibiting scientifically-engaged art in both traditional and nontraditional spaces offering insights for artists, scientists, educators.
℞ This article highlights two recent studies showing that despite research connecting social isolation and loneliness to negative health outcomes and mortality, many people – including healthcare providers – overlook their impact on physical health. The research highlights the need for better education, public awareness, and strategies, like social prescribing, to help healthcare providers address social connection in medical care.
Education 🎓
🩺 McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics at the UTHealth Houston has launched a Medical Humanities Workforce Training Program for Physicians. The 24-month certificate is primarily virtual with in-person intensives. Those who teach in a health professional context may also apply. Fall 2025 applications close on June 15.
📓 Arts in Health Netherlands (AiHN ) is running a week-long Summer School from June 23-27, 2025. The School introduces students to scientific research exploring how the arts are being used to re-humanize healthcare, promote wellness and recovery, and support healthy living. Students who complete the School can receive an official ‘digital credential’ from the University of Groningen.
Events 📆
🎶 Breathe Melodies for Mums offers new mothers the opportunity to experience the joy of singing together with other women and their babies. Groups meet in-person and online throughout London and focus on support and empowerment without judgement.
🗣️ The National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) in the UK will host The International Social Prescribing Showcase on June 16, 2025. The free two-hour online event features insights from 32 countries on how social prescribing is being used around the world.
🎭 The Wellbeing Studio weekends in Northwest Wales provides opportunity for creative expression and a welcoming space for adults ages 18-30. The sessions are facilitated by artists, performers, writers and musicians and designed to help deal with anxiety, low confidence and loneliness. Upcoming dates: June 14-15 and 28-29.
🎥 The Arts in Healing International Film Festival will run June 13-14, 2025, in Portland, OR, USA and online. The event brings together artists, filmmakers, health professionals policy makers and others to spotlight how the arts support well-being.
🤝 AFTACON 2025, hosted by Americans for the Arts in partnership with ArtsWave, will take place June 11–14, 2025, in Cincinnati. The event features programming across five focus areas: Cultural Impact, Educational Development, Economic Growth, Social Transformation, and Future Innovation. Also included are sessions on the arts’ role in rural revitalization, public health, civic engagement, and global healing through creative partnerships.
Opportunities 🌱
🌳 Do you have a creative idea about how to improve mental health and social well-being in rural places? The LOR Foundation is now accepting project proposals. Apply by June 6, 2025 to receive between $1,000 and $25,000 in funding.
🗣️ The National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH) is looking for a full-time Research and Policy Manager to help lead its work and support a major national research program on health inequalities. The position is split between NCCH's core work and a UKRI-funded research project in partnership with University College London. The deadline for applications is midnight on June 15, 2025.
🖼️ Applications are now open until June, 26 2025 for a new grant program supporting health and wellbeing initiatives in UK museums. In this first of two funding rounds, approximately 10 grants ranging from £50,000 to £75,000 will be awarded.
🏺 KIM, a Welsh charity offering mental health support in the Welsh town of Holywell, is looking for a Project Lead for their Artisanctuary project. It will offer creative and supportive art and craft workshops—ranging from ceramics to woodwork—that build practical skills, foster wellbeing and strengthen community connections. Apply by Friday June 13, 2025. Interviews on Tuesday June 24, 2025.
Resources 🧰
⛑️ Drawing from over 79,000 images held in major UK archives, “Pandemics, Society, and Public Health, 1517–1925” is an archival collection exploring the impact of plague, cholera, smallpox, and influenza on British society over five centuries. The collection includes everything from quarantine records and vaccination patents to morale-boosting sheet music and is a valuable resource for students, educators, and researchers across disciplines.
🎨 The CultureAndHealth Platform, led by Culture Action Europe, supports over 200 emerging European artists working across culture, health, care, education, and social sectors. The program highlights the role of culture in promoting health, well-being, and social innovation across Europe.
Featured Artist 🎨
Lauren Kingsland is the author of “Hands On Mindfulness: How to use creative handwork to help you through challenging times.” She is celebrated for her colorful quilts filled with richly varied fabrics, symmetrical motifs, and repurposed materials. Her goal is to break the barriers of tradition so that quilts are recognized as an art medium and as a tool for self knowledge and healing. She lectures and teaches widely including for the Smithsonian Associates, Montgomery College, the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, healthcare support organizations and quilters guilds. She has been an Artist-in-Residence with Medstar Georgetown University Hospital's Arts and Humanities program since 1999. In addition to "Healing Journey: Quilts about transformation in the presence of cancer" and “Hands On Mindfulness: How to use creative handwork to help you through challenging times” she is the author of “The Extraordinary T-shirt Quilt: A Scrapbook You Can Sleep Under.”
Thank you, Dylan, for shining a light on the power of creative expression to make a positive difference in the world.