Art4Healing is a partnership between the RaMoMa Museum of Modern Art and the Kenyatta National Hospital Department of Pediatrics. For several years, young energetic and big hearted artists have been volunteering their time making art and creating dramatic presentations with critically ill children.
James Mbuthia, Program Coordinator, asked me to provide training for the artists (24 of them) so that they would feel better equipped to serve the children. We held the first full day training in mid-January and decided that we would follow up with a monthly support group where the artists could come together, discuss a topic (pre-determined by the group) and also share feelings triggered by the children’s painful and often tragic situation. The first training focused on experiential art exercises, relevant role-plays and having FUN!
The first of the monthly support meetings will be held on Feb. 12 at the museum. The topic that will be explored is “As artists, how do we present ourselves to the hospital staff and to the parents in order to maximize our effectiveness?”
At the end of the workshop, James said, “This course is very important to us since very few of our artists ever had any training before in this field apart from being practicing artists. The artists were very happy and they are looking forward to learning more.”