The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that 1 in 5
families are affected by mental illness. I have read in other places that
mental illness impacts 1 - 4 people. For those reasons, part of the mission of
Spectrum ArtWorks is to continue educating the public and work to reduce stigma
associated with mental illness. Uniquely, we are also a program which is
founded on providing direct services to professional artists living with mental
illnesses.
Mental illness affects persons of any age, religion, race,
and income. And it also affects artists. It takes a lot of work and courage to
make a career out of your art, and it takes a lot of courage to live openly as
someone living with mental illness. Thus, Spectrum ArtWorks acts as a bridge. We see the artist first and never discount the challenge of living with a
mental illness.
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| Art is a form of communication. It also brings people together. |
Just last week, Christi Furnas, myself, and Peter F. Hinze
presented at the American Swedish Institute on Spectrum ArtWorks to a number of behavioral health and human
service providers, all to provide context to our work and share why we do what
we do and how we do it. At the end of the presentation, Christi voiced out loud
the following, a statement I appreciate and cannot shake:
Art is a form of intelligent,
insightful communication.
That we come together to fight
stigma by communicating in this way shows our strength, and understanding and
willingness to overcome injustice.
To do this, we work with
courage.
It takes courage to be defined
as a person living with a major mental illness.
We feel that by being open, positive representatives, the definition of
the term will change.
Eventually more people will live
without shame.
Christi’s words show how we understand the cultural and
social power of art; the role art can play in someone’s individual life as well
as how art can inform and communicate. That is why our program is so public, because we are artists raising awareness.
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| Christi and Pete before our big presentation last week on Spectrum ArtWorks! |
But how do we do that? We start first by thinking about our
mission, and how we can represent it publicly and creatively. What we have found
works best to do this is to partner with other agencies, organizations, businesses,
and companies. In these partnerships, we find a support system, but also a way
to show how others care, too, about breaking down stigma as well as advocating
for mental health treatment and support.
As a group we assess our interest in moving forward with these partnerships.
It is pretty rare that we say no. Every opportunity counts. So on that note,
let me share with you what partnerships we have been working on and developing
upon…
We are excited to share with you a partnership where Spectrum
ArtWorks will pair up with all three of RESOURCE’S community support programs
(CSP) to support a recovery focused empowerment tool called Photovoice, a
project which couples photography with creative writing. Charaka, the
Lighthouse, and the Northwest CSP will all offer sessions of Photovoice. The
project aims to give individuals an opportunity to express themselves in a
different way. Some participants of
Photovoice have never explored photography before. Some participants have never
been able to express their experience of living with mental illness before.
Often this program is referred to as RECOVERY THROUGH PHOTOS. It’s simple really. You take a photo and put
words to it, applying a metaphor; that is why it resembles recovery. The goal
of this year’s Photovoice program, a program that happens annually at RESOURCE,
is to conclude with a public exhibition of the artwork, an exhibition Spectrum
ArtWorks will manage. Photovoice:
Recovery through Photos, the exhibition will travel during winter 2015/2016 and will
show in community spaces such as coffee shops and libraries. The first
exhibition will unveil mid-December at The Nicollet, a café in Minneapolis
Spectrum ArtWorks partners with.
The Nicollet will also exhibit Impossible Things: A Spectrum
ArtWorks Group Exhibition. The show will open May 13th, 2015. The
opening reception will be announced soon! Be prepared to see how each Core
Group artist approaches a themed-exhibition.
All of the partnerships we develop and are invited to form
are special and unique collaborations. One that we are so proud of is our
partnership with Procentive, a pioneer in EHR (electronic health records) and
practice management software. Procentive is based in Hudson, WI and provides
EHR solutions exclusively for behavioral health and human services agencies
around the country. Procentive began showcasing the Spectrum ArtWorks Core
Group artists on March 12, 2015. They are featuring artwork on a rotating basis
as a way to increase awareness across Procentive’s entire network of providers.
The goal is to encourage more artists with a mental health diagnosis to
participate in supportive, artist-related services.
“Everyday, thousands of therapists and staff log into their
Procentive accounts,” notes Procentive CEO, Randy Zimmermann. “With this exciting partnership, we will be
doing two things for them: brightening
their day with beautiful artwork and introducing them to the Spectrum ArtWorks
program. Our hope is that therapists
across the country will encourage their artistic clients to participate in
Spectrum ArtWorks, amplifying the impact that this program is making in the
lives of artists with mental illness.”
Kelly Matter, RESOURCE’S President and CEO had these nice
things to say as well, “This partnership with Procentive is exciting because it
provides yet another way for high quality, thought-provoking art to challenge
audiences. Ultimately, we hope it transforms the perceptions people have of
mental illness while being touched personally by this beautiful work.”
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| Pete and Kelly Matter, RESOURCE'S President and CEO, after the presentation. |
It is an honor to stand with Procentive as leaders in
challenging stigmas and as totems for supporting artists living with mental
illnesses.
And the list keeps going… We will also be exhibiting a
collaborative piece for What’s Left: Lives Touched by Suicide, a multimedia
exhibit that creates a proactive dialogue on suicide to break the stigma that
surrounds it. The show is set to open at the MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids,
Minnesota in September 2015. Spectrum ArtWorks
was commissioned by the exhibit’s Project Director, John Bauer, to produce a piece for
the show. After development of the exhibition and the initial display at
MacRostie Art Center, the exhibit will tour to locations around the state of
Minnesota.
Lastly, Spectrum ArtWorks introduced a partnership with the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) to begin a Teaching Artist internship. This
partnership not only helps undergraduate students gain experience while working towards becoming
teaching artists, but it brings the larger arts community into the program’s
art studio. Because this internship program has been successful so far,
Spectrum ArtWorks hopes to continue this partnership with MCAD. Separate
internships from MCAD are also being developed and considered, such a studio
management intern.
So that’s that it in a nutshell. If you have questions about
the program or would like more information, please contact me.
Warmly,
Jes Reyes
Arts Specialist
Spectrum ArtWorks
