We’re In the News: An Update From Charlotte!

You’ve already heard the news: that Arts For Life expanded to Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte earlier this year. Now, our BIG news is, well, in the news! The Charlotte Observer recently featured us and our Charlotte chapter in their Health & Family section; check it out!

We couldn’t be happier about how our first few months at Levine have gone. Here’s an update from Sarah Ness, our Charlotte program director:

Since beginning the Charlotte chapter of Arts For Life at Levine Children’s Hospital just a few short months ago, I have already seen a tremendous impact on the children and families we work with. We provide engaging art experiences that facilitate connection in a truly powerful way. I’ve seen children connect with other children around the art table—sharing their experiences of IV pricks and surgeries, reassuring each other that it will be okay, and giving tips to help each other deal with the pain and fear. I’ve seen families connect with each other as parents and siblings join in on the art making fun; it becomes a special time for them to laugh together, create together, and relax together as a respite from the stress of the hospital.

Providing a space to create art allows patients and family members to connect to the joy inside themselves—that place in their heart where resilience lives. Our art education program, taught at art tables and bedsides, yields meaningful experiential learning that transforms worried faces into smiles beaming with pride. This is the therapeutic impact of the art experience and the art lessons we teach.

Bringing Arts For Life to Levine Children’s Hospital has been an amazing experience so far, and the support we’ve received from the hospital has been invaluable. It feels wonderful to build a program in a place where everyone else is just as excited to have us here as we are to be here. Our team of amazing Arts For Life interns and volunteers is growing, and I look forward to our ability to reach more and more patients and families as our program at Levine Children’s Hospital thrives.

Visit carolinashealthcare.org to learn more about Levine. And stay tuned right here to our blog for more Charlotte updates…

Photos taken by Carolinas HealthCare Foundation at an exciting event during which local artists came to the art table to paint with our students.