Creative Minds in Medicine Conference to Launch at Cleveland’s Global Center for Health Innovation
In an effort to bring awareness to the ever-growing link between medicine and the arts, Cleveland, Ohio-based Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) will be hosting its first-ever Creative Minds in Medicine Conference at the new Cleveland Global Center for Health Innovation.
Tom Chema, board chair of CPAC, said Northeast Ohio is at the national forefront of a remarkable new dynamic as the growing intersection of our world-class healthcare sector and our world-class arts and culture sector.
“The interplay between these industries is sparking new ideas, new programs, new products and services,” said Chema. “CPAC showed in our recent research report that this intersection is evolving and expanding rapidly.”
The conference, which takes place on Oct. 29-30, will feature a variety of keynote speakers who will focus on the increasing overlap and collaboration between the arts and medicine nationwide. The two-day event will be filled with diverse discussions led by several nationwide experts on a variety of arts and healthcare projects, practices, research and trends.
Keynote speakers include:
- Gary Glazner, founder and executive director of the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project. Glazner will speak on Dementia Arts: Celebrating Creativity in Elder Care.
- Sunil Iyengar, research and analysis director of the National Endowment for the Arts. Iyengar will discuss in his Research Agenda for the Arts and Health session, the efforts of leading a federal taskforce to encourage more extensive research on how the arts help people reach their full potential at all stages of life.
- Mel Chin, lead behind Operation Paydirt. This project is a national movement that is designed to support awareness and solutions to lead contamination and address childhood lead poisoning.
- Nadine Licostie, director or “The Last One”, a feature-length documentary that summarizes the controversial battle and stigma surrounding the AIDS virus and the gay community. The film frames the quest to sew the last panel into the Quilt, representing the end of AIDS. Licostie will discuss her filmmaking journey, uncovering the birth of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and its subsequent impact on politics, science and the media, as it has become the largest ongoing community art project in the world.
In addition to the keynote speakers, attendees will have the chance to experience firsthand the healing power of the arts through demonstrations and activities and help shape how the arts and healthcare dialogue in Greater Cleveland is making an impact nationwide. The conference agenda also includes several panel discussions on important topics, including: Arts and Health Economy, Arts & Culture in a Changing Healthcare Landscape, and Arts, Culture & Social Change: Fostering Healthy Communities, to name a few.
“The Creative Minds in Medicine Conference is a timely opportunity to bring together arts and healthcare experts from around the nation to identify ways to support and enhance the critical collaboration taking place every day between our arts and healthcare industries,” said Chema.
Those interested in attending the conference can visit www.cultureforward.org or contact Becki Silverstein at Becki@rebeccaadele.com or at 440-227-8794.