CAREERS IN ARTS THERAPY: Utilize your arts talents in a career of helping others!

UTILIZING THE ARTS: Bringing Focus on the ABILITY in Disabilities
 
QUESTION: What is a great job for someone who enjoys helping people, has an ability to connect with others, is patient, kind, and an ARTIST?   
ANSWER:    Arts Therapy!   Whether you are a visual artist, dancer, musician, or actor, there are meaningful careers for professionals who are trained to work with disabled individuals, and individuals who have been through an emotional or physical  trauma of some kind. 

Assignment 1-   DESCRIBING YOUR PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: In your notebook, write a paragraph listing any disabled people you know or have met…a relative? A family friend?  A student at school? For each entry, describe your “comfort level” in being able to interact with them…i.e. Do you try to make conversation if possible?    Do you offer to help them get their wheelchair across a busy street, open a door for them, give them a “high 5”, or just say “Good morning” and smile at them? WRITE YOUR PARAGRAPH.
 These are all varying degrees of interacting with disabled people. Sometimes it may feel awkward if you have no previous experience through your family or close friends…but it CAN be learned and begin to feel comfortable and rewarding.   

Assignment 2- WATCHING THE VIDEO COLLECTION & TAKING NOTES:  You will have your notebook ready.    Before each video, write the TITLE of the video and give yourself a FULL PAGE of paper just for that video.  As you watch, take notes…pause the video when necessary to write an excellent quote, etc.  THEN, after viewing and taking your notes, write a paragraph, at least 6 sentences, about each video, including a few of the best quotes you heard in that interview. 

1)Begin your viewing with the video POSITIVE EXPOSURE about Rick Guidotti, a New York fashion photographer who traded that career to photograph disabled people.  Watching him have a “photo shoot” with these disabled clients is remarkable, and you can see how beautifully they respond to someone giving them respect, positive attention, and meaningful conversation.

2) Continue viewing & taking notes, writing paragraphs on all videos included.  Don’t forget to notice the other videos included on the MOVE TO INCLUDE site…there are many excellent topics.

3) You may notice that THE TELLING PROJECT and ILLUSION THEATER interviews are not necessarily about “disabled” populations, but about emotional wounds and challenges that happen in people’s lives due to war/combat, disease, racial bias & exclusion, etc.     These are both profoundly important stories about caring arts advocates reaching out a hand to help heal a person, group, or community. Lots of good notes and quotes in these 2 interviews.  
4)  ILLUSION THEATER, located in Minneapolis, MN.is also the home of HEART OF THE BEAST Arts Festival and Parade, held every spring @ the beginning of May. The arts focus is on puppetry and masks, but the goal of this festival is to bring the community together, “lifting up” all citizens by INCLUSION and JOYFUL CELEBRATION.  Check it out!  Absolutely amazing puppets, body sculptures, etc.Let your "inner artist" be delighted by viewing the photos on this site.
[ INCLUSION is something that is needed by ALL of us; we want a friend circle, someone to talk to, laugh with, share sadness with...that is why "special populations" also  need the kind of      TOGETHERNESS / INCLUSION that happens so easily in the arts!]
 
 

CHOOSE 1 ARTS AREA ON WHICH TO FOCUS.    COMPLETE THE ASSESSMENT FOR THAT AREA, THEN SHARE WITH YOUR TEACHER.

MUSIC 
1). Watch the music therapy videos again, both on this site, and on the music therapy national organization's site.  Make notes of the AIMS of the therapists as they work with these small group of individuals.  
2.)  Write a lesson plan for a MUSIC THERAPY session for 4 individuals; the OBJECTIVE should be an "inclusion" experience for each person in the group, whether singing, holding hands, playing instruments, etc. ( Decide if you want to play guitar, ukelele, or sing without accompaniment). 
3.) Choose 3 different songs: 1 song which uses each  client's name( as you sing the song over 4 times)... 1 song which utilizes percussion instruments...,  & 1 song which emphasizes friendship and belonging, and uses simple body movements.
4) Schedule 4 friend/classmate volunteers to sit with you in a circle in a quiet room to "enact" the clients in your therapy class.  IT IS NOT NECESSARY NOR APPROPRIATE for them to "act disabled", just ask them to follow directions and get through the lesson with you.  Let 3 friends sing/play at a time, & ask 1 friend to video the session on a cell phone camera or video camera.... ALL 3 SONGS. 
5)MAKE YOUR MUSIC THERAPY MINI-HANDBOOK, and write all 3 songs [lyrics] in your handbook; also include a short glossery of terms you have learned in the videos,  general TIPS for MUSIC THERAPY, and the web address for the National Association for Music Therapy, & colleges/universities that  have training.    
6.)  Make an appointment with your teacher to watch, discuss, & assess  your  video "class" and your handbook, 

VISUAL ART
1)Watch the art therapy videos again, making notes about the important points mentioned, both on the Learning Why site, and on the VISUAL ART THERAPY website. Make notes of any important points, quotes, or techniques that are mentioned.  Also make notes of the AIMS mentioned by these therapists, as they work with this group of individuals.
2)Research and write a lesson plan for an ART THERAPY session for 3 individuals; the OBJECTIVE should be to provide a project that is gratifying for the clients,that is not TOO challenging, and  leaving room for individualizing the artwork, and that can be completed in 20 -30 minutes.  [Do not use the project demonstrated in the video.]  
3) Get a commitment from 3 friends/ classmates to be the clients, and 1 classmate to operate a video camera of your class.Schedule a time and room that will work for everyone. There must be a "work table" .
4)Have  your art supplies organized and ready, and your lesson plan firmly in mind & written down with you. and schedule a quiet room for 45 minutes.  SET UP MATERIALS and seaat your friends around a table.  Tell them IT IS NOT NECESSARY NOR APPROPRIATE for them to act disabled or "challenged" in any way; however, you will be using positive, encouraging, and appropriate language with them during the lesson, AS IF they were clients in a therapy group.
5) Start the video camera, and proceed with the lesson, beginning to end.
6) Make your ART THERAPY HANDBOOK, including a detailed description of your lesson/materials, and helpful quotes and information that you learned in the art therapy videos.   Also write the web address of the national arts therapy organization, and any IMPORTANT NAMES & SCHOOLS that you noticed on their website.
7)Make an appointment with your teacher to watch, discuss, & assess  your  video "class" and your handbook, 

DANCE

1). Watch the dance therapy videos again, both on this site, and on the dance therapy national organization's site.  Make notes of the AIMS & OBJECTIVES that the therapists have for these individuals as they work with them in the  small group settings.  
2.)  Write a lesson plan for a DANCE THERAPY session for 4 individuals; the OBJECTIVE should be a "body expression"  experience for each person in the group, and depending on the group, possibly coming together in movement as a whole unit. Write specifics about movements you want them to accomplish. 
3.) Choose 3 different songs: Locate songs with different TEMPOS, INSTRUMENTATION, and MOOD. Listen to each, and write your plan for preparing your students for movement when you introduce the song and demonstrate.
4) Schedule 4 friends/classmate volunteers to join  you in a large,  quiet room, uncluttered with furniture...they will  "enact" the clients in your therapy class.  IT IS NOT NECESSARY NOR APPROPRIATE for them to "act disabled", just ask them to follow directions and get through the lesson with you.  You should have a  video camera available on a tripod which you can turn on before the "class" begins.If not, ask one extra student to prop a cell phone camera on a level surface to keep it steady, and to be able to videotape, varying wide dance shots with medium shots of individuals.
5 ) On the scheduled day, begin the video & class, and proceed as if you are a DANCE THERAPIST working with a special population.  Explain, demonstrate, and then get them involved,working with and without the music, as appropriate.
6) Complete the lesson as planned, teaching and videotaping
7)Make notes on this lesson, the aims accomplished, &  the various music used.  Make a list of colleges/universities that offer DANCE THERAPY training, and make a note of the national website.  
8) Schedule a meeting to review & assess your work on this lesson, watching the video, looking at the notebook, and discussing your interest in the subject.

DRAMA
1.) Watch the DRAMA THERAPY videos again.   Make notes of the types of outcomes the therapists/directors/facilitators are hoping for [as they speak in the interview],  as a result of bringing a performance together.
2.)MEET WITH YOUR TEACHER FIRST.  Discuss some topics that might be "theraputic" for students to "vent" about, but are appropriate for a student-led project.  Get his/her "OK" on several, or even just one.
3)   After deciding on a topic, ask a group of 3 friends/volunteers to meet with you for 30 minutes to discuss the idea of writing short monologues for each of them to perform.  They can give you NOTES in this discussion about an issue that's bothering them about the school environment, and then you will write a ONE PAGE MONOLOGUE for each student to perform.  which you will perform to begin the show. [Be sure & get their feedback  & agreement on this written monologue after you've written it.]  You will ALSO NEED TO WRITE an introductory monologue that YOU will perform, to introduce the show. After all have agreed that the monologues are ok,  set up a rehearsal time where they can read their monologues to the group, & take suggestions/direction on gestures, small movements on stage, facial expressions, tones of voice, practicing several times, sometimes 1:1 with one other actor, sometimes with the whole group. 
4) For best results, they should rehearse it until they can perform everyything from memory...but this may be asking a lot for someone ELSE'S project.   Just encourage them to get SO FAMILIAR with it, they can carry the paper around the stage if necessary, while performing.
5) SCHEDULE  a time in a quiet room where all performers can assemble with you to perform and videotape the work, and also arrange for a video camera on a tripod to take the 3 performances.  Move all furniture out of the way to make a "stage" area. 
6) You may want to locate some "seating music" that will play before the play begins, at the end, or in-between monologues,  in order to set the mood. [Always be appropriate to the school setting.]
7) Put all script materials, directors' notes, music specifics,etc. from your show.  Also list in this notebook, the website for the national drama therapy site, & colleges/universities who provide training in this field.
8)  You can invite your teacher to attend, or show them the video tape of the performance.  Afterwards, schedule a time to review, discuss, and assess this project.