In Spring 2007, we launched the Arts & Healing Podcast in order to share the actual voices of artists and organizations who are doing inspiring work using art to heal themselves, their community, and/or the planet. Our podcast is published several times a year and is produced by Britt Bravo.
You can subscribe to the Arts & Healing Podcast via iTunes by clicking here. Otherwise, please use the "click here to listen online" links below. If you would like to be notified about new podcasts, please sign up for our e-newsletter.
If you enjoy our podcast, please give us a rating on iTunes. If you have suggestions for people to interview, please send those to ahn@artheals.org.
Lisa Rasmussen is a transformative artist, educator, curator and art advocate who truly believes that art can change and heal the world. Lisa is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Art is Moving and the 3rd Annual Art Break Day. Art Break Day is a community art-reach event that offers thousands of people the means and space to connect with their community via the art-making process. She is also the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Art 4 All People and AY Atelier Art, an international sanctuary for arts and consciousness online and in Malibu, CA.
Additionally, Lisa pioneered an award-winning expressive arts program for emotionally traumatized and abused youth, and developed a professional art gallery for the residents of Lincoln Child Center, a mental health facility in Oakland, CA. She is also a professional artist, and her paintings are her spiritual practice. To learn more about Lisa and her work, please visit www.artismovingnow.com, www.art4allpeople.com, and www.ayatelierart.com.
Timothy McLaughlin is a poet, teacher and the founder of the Spoken Word Program at the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS). This program empowers students to create original poetry – which incorporates Native languages and philosophies – and then perform that poetry for diverse audiences locally, nationally, and internationally. He and his students have received numerous awards and have been featured on many radio and television programs. You can learn more about the SFIS Spoken Word Program at www.sfisspokenword.org.
Originally from Washington DC, Timothy has been teaching in Native communities since 1997. He was named the University of Virginia Madison House Alumni of the Year in 2007 for his dedication to service work. Timothy has also produced the poetry CD, Moccasins and Microphones: Modern Native Storytelling Through Performance Poetry, and is the editor of the book Walking on the Earth and Touching the Sky: Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School(Abrams Books 2012). His writing has appeared in several publications, including The Declaration and Radical Grace.
Elana Haviv is the Founder and Executive Director of the Children's Movement for Creative Education (CMCE), which creates academic and artistic programs to help children and youth understand and overcome violent world events like Hurricane Sandy or 9/11. Elana designed The Telling History Project: Understanding the Past to Create the Future, a curriculum to teach students about human rights. After 9/11, she spearheaded an art-based CMCE 9/11 Trauma Relief Project in New York City schools. She also has pioneered art-based healing programs in post-war Bosnia. More recently, in response to Hurricane Sandy, Elana founded The Hurricane Sandy Art Relief Caravan Project which was recently featured in The Huffington Post article, "Art Heals Heartache for Sandy Kids." You can learn more about CMCE on their website, childrensmovement.org.
Tim Carpenter is the founder of EngAGE, a nonprofit that changes aging, and the way people think about aging, by transforming senior apartment communities into vibrant centers of learning, wellness and creativity. EngAGE provides life-enhancing arts, wellness, lifelong learning, community building and intergenerational programs and events to thousands of seniors living in Southern California.
Tim also catalyzed the creation of the Burbank Senior Artists Colony, a first-of-its-kind senior apartment community with high-end arts amenities and programs. The NOHO Senior Arts Colony and the Long Beach Senior Arts Colony will open in 2012. In 2008, Tim was elected an Ashoka Fellow for being one of the top social entrepreneurs in the world. In 2011, he received the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. He also serves on the board of the National Center for Creative Aging, and is the host and producer of the EXPERIENCE TALKS radio show.
Marney Makridakis is the author of Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life. She founded the Artella online community for creators of all kinds, and the print magazine Artella. A popular speaker and workshop leader, she created the ARTbundance approach for self-discovery through art. She lives in Dallas, Texas. Visit her online at artellaland.com and on Facebook.
Lori Portka is an artist who makes her work with an open heart, carrying the intention to spread love and healing. Lori's Happiness Through Art designs appear on greeting cards, prints, calendars and magazines internationally. On the first day of 2012, Lori started a new project called "A Hundred Thank Yous" in which she is making 100 paintings for 100 people that have touched her life. The project will culminate in a gallery show of all 100 works in July, and then each painting will be gifted to the person honored in the work. You can learn more about Lori and her project on her website, loriportka.com, and follow her on Twitter at @loriportka.
Christine Mason Miller is a Santa Monica based writer and artist who has been creating, writing and exploring since she was a little girl. Her mission to inspire has provided the foundation for all of her creative work. The desire to encourage others to pursue their passions and create a meaningful life is the common thread throughout an expansive body of work that includes mixed media collage, commercial illustration, photography, writing, teaching and speaking. Her latest book is Desire to Inspire: Using Creative Passion to Transform the World. You can learn more about Christine and her work on her website at christinemasonmiller.com.
Ricky Lee Gordon is a South African muralist and community artist who goes by the name of Freddy Sam. He is the founder of Write on Africa, a community art and inspiration project that creates murals and workshops in poor communities to uplift and inspire social change. He also founded and directs A Word of Art, which includes an art space, art projects, and an international art residency program dedicated to celebrating new art and emerging young artists. He also founded the Woodstock Industrial Center, a derelict industrial building in the heart of Woodstock, a suburb of Cape Town, where together with a willing landlord he has now brought in over 75 creative tenants. The building now has a coffee shop, skate park and bookshop, and hosts talks, exhibitions, movie nights, dinners and drawing evenings.
As Ricky Lee says, "I believe color creates energy, and I believe energy creates inspiration, and then I think inspiration creates the change. If you can create color, which murals do, then you're making a massive impact." The Arts & Healing Network is so impressed by Ricky Lee's incredible creative vision and use of art to revitalize and transform his neighborhood that we awarded him one of the 2011 AHN Awards.
Quinn McDonald is the author of Raw Art Journaling: Making Meaning, Making Art. Quinn is also a business and creativity coach, who helps people find or develop their careers, and incorporate creativity in their lives. She believes that communicating is an art form. She writes the "Business of Art" column for Somerset Studio magazine and "The Raw Edge" coaching column for Art Quilting Studio. She's also a regular contributor to Create Mixed Media. In this podcast she shares why she believes writing and journaling are healing practices as well as exercises to engage your creative self.
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Elana Haviv is the Founder and Executive Director of the Children's Movement for Creative Education (CMCE), which creates academic and artistic programs to help children and youth understand and overcome violent world events like Hurricane Sandy or 9/11. Elana designed The Telling History Project: Understanding the Past to Create the Future, a curriculum to teach students about human rights. After 9/11, she spearheaded an art-based CMCE 9/11 Trauma Relief Project in New York City schools. She also has pioneered art-based healing programs in post-war Bosnia. More recently, in response to Hurricane Sandy, Elana founded The Hurricane Sandy Art Relief Caravan Project which was recently featured in The Huffington Post article, 
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