ARTSHIFT: An Art in Hospitals Program

The Susan K. Black Foundation supports the Very Special Arts (VSA) of California program ARTSHIFT, an Art in Hospitals Program.  Five hundred youth have participated at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento, CA in the arts program.  Participating Children are under long term care at the hospital.  Professional artists-in-residence provide each young patient instruction once a week in a variety of visual arts.  The goal is to provide the students appropriate developmental projects for their growth and psychological wellbeing while they are undergoing long-term treatment.
Students work in a variety of media, including mono-prints, foil relief sculpture, watercolor, and collage.  These and other projects are an entertaining means of supporting self-esteem when self-worth can be threatened and anxiety, fear, and depression can be high.
At the end of the program the work was displayed at the hospital and local galleries.
Other partners in the project were National VSA Arts, the Johnson-Schroeder Foundation, the Teichert Foundation, the Christopher Reeve Foundation, and the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Alliance.