The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts

The power of Arts in Healing is demonstrated by compelling patient histories and validated by remarkable evidence-based research. As defined by the National Endowment for the Arts, it is “an international movement that works to infuse the full spectrum of the arts into healthcare settings, including design, visual, performing and literary arts, resulting in programs and healthcare environments that are welcoming and uplifting for caregivers, patients, their families and visitors.”

To participate in or learn more about the Arts in Healing Program, call (502) 562-0198 or email artsinhealing@kentuckycenter.org.

See Arts In Healing in action! View photos from a movement workshop conducted by the Mark Morris Dance Group at Frazier Rehab Institute.

The Impact of the Arts

The arts contribute to a healing environment for patients, families, and staff. In addition to improving the quality of the patient’s experience, the arts have been shown to shorten hospital stays, reduce pain medication, increase staff satisfaction and retention and ensure effective and efficient use of healthcare dollars.

One Community, Two Strengths

The Kentucky Center is uniquely qualified to develop this important initiative and to raise it to the same level of excellence as its nationally lauded arts education and Access Services training programs. The Center partners with Kentucky’s vibrant arts scene and Louisville’s renowned healthcare providers to take national and international touring artists beyond the walls of traditional concert venues and into healthcare settings, providing quality performances and interactive arts events to many people.

In addition, The Kentucky Center selects local artists with years of experience as teaching artists and provides them with intensive training from national and local trainers. Artists attend a five-day seminar designed specifically by The Kentucky Center to meet the needs of our community and healthcare partners.

Reaching Those in Need

Through successful artist residencies, The Kentucky Center brings instrumental music, vocal music, storytelling, dance, drama, and visual art to hospital waiting rooms, chemotherapy infusion units, rehab centers, hospital cafeterias, and hospital lounge areas. The Arts In Healing Program furthers the Center’s mission of service to the Commonwealth by confirming its position as a cultural innovator committed to weaving the thread of the arts into the fabric of the entire community.

The Healing Arts

Benefits of the program include creative self-expression, relief from pain and anxiety, and empowerment in an environment where patients and families often have little control. Patients, health workers and caregivers have all praised the program for providing, in the words of a participant at a chemotherapy unit, “comfort, relaxation, inspiration, positive distractions, and another human connection.”

Arts in Healing, a program of The Kentucky Center, continues through the efforts of the healthcare facilities where patients interact with artists, and is made possible with support from the Humana Foundation and The Kentucky Center for the Arts Endowment Fund.