Arts For Life Winston-Salem 2011

Erica

Gabriel

Caleb

Chris

Arts For Life Winston-Salem

2011

Chapter Report

2011

C hapter R eport

Spring 2012

2011 was a big year for Arts For Life! Ten years ago in 2001, Arts For Life began with one patient, one camera, and an unshakable belief in the healing power of art. Since that humble beginning, we have grown into a multi-chapter organization serving more than 5,000 young patients and family members each year at four hospitals throughout North Carolina.

Today, we celebrate Arts For Life’s mission of providing educational art programs that enrich patients’ lives, nurture their minds and spirits, and encourage positive healthcare experiences for children and their families. We honor the young patients with whom we have been privileged to work, and draw inspiration everyday from their examples of creativity, imagination, and courage. And we thank you for your steadfast support and friendship to our community’s patients and families during the most challenging times of their lives.

Thank you for sharing this journey with Arts For Life. Here’s to the next 10 years!

Shea Godwin Executive Director

From left: Rima, Kiefer (top), Julia (bottom), Sarah and Program Director Betsey, and Christopher

Arts For Life

Arts For Life is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting people facing serious illnesses.

By providing educational art programs, we enrich patients’ lives, nurture their minds and spirits, and encourage positive healthcare experiences for children and their families. Arts For Life serves children in four cities across North Carolina: WinstonSalem, Asheville, Charlotte, and Durham.

The

Arts For Life Team in Winston-Salem

STAFF

INTERNS

Shea Godwin Executive Director

Natalie Alkiere Molly Bolton Megan Callahan Teradee Hagan Sarah Kumin Mary Alyce McCullough Leigh Ann White

Betsey McLawhorn Program Director Elizabeth Messick Community Coordinator Rachel Zink Assistant Director

COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Snee Howard Bookkeeper

Carolyn Bailey Karen Fitzgerald Amy Garland Anne Sessions Mary Craig Tennille Jeff Ungetheim Susan Wiles

Dawna Wade Administrative Assistant

MUSIC FELLOWS Colin Allured Mike Chamis

volunteers

and

VOLUNTEERS Kitty Amos Mary Beth Blackwell Chapman

Georgia Carson Linda Hinshaw Katie Hoge Ali Kapps Lauren Ling Jill Monroe Deb Nolan Joanie Oliphant Tiffany Parris Lauren Porter Leah Shaw Laura Statham Holly Thomas Lisa Timberlake Casi Williams

interns

in

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Doug Michaels Chair John Dickson Treasurer Anne Sessions Secretary Becky Anderson Karen Fitzgerald Deborah Goeken Melandee Jones Wes Sugg

winston-salem

No mention of the Arts For Life team would be complete without honoring our dedicated, hard-working, compassionate volunteers and interns. It takes a special person to commit four hours a week to teaching art to our community’s young patients. It takes a deep well of creativity, an emotional maturity and a sense of empathy, but most all, it takes an enduring love of children. All of our volunteers and interns have those qualities in common, and without them, we would not be able to sustain our work.

AFL volunteers and interns contribute lesson plans and ideas to the AFL project repertoire, attend monthly volunteer learning sessions and get-togethers, and even take the lead on support groups geared toward Brenner’s special populations.

Spotlight on: Laura Statham Since joining our volunteer teaching team in early 2010, Laura Statham has made quite an impression on all the patients with whom she shares her time each week. What started out as a weekly evening shift has evolved to her leading Sickle Cell Connections, a support group for patients with Sickle Cell Disease. Laura goes above and beyond with planning and preparation, attending Laura and Ethan meetings and special events of the young adult SCD support group in order to better understand the experience of the teens in her group. Laura can often be found stopping by the hospital on an unscheduled day to check in on “her students,” offering an extra art lesson here and there. The parents and patients alike adore her, as she spends time talking with each family so she can know better how to brighten their individual experience.

Long-time volunteer Mary Beth, leading a Teen Support Group

Laura has also been instrumental in our community events. She served on our 2011 Fancy Pants Dance committee, gathering items for the auctions and helping with preparation of the event.

With the help of dedicated advocates like Laura, we raised over $19,000 at the Fancy Pants Dance for our educational art programs. To Laura and the many other volunteers who make AFL Winston-Salem a success, we say THANK YOU!

spotlight on: Carrie Ten-year-old Carrie has been fighting Ewings Sarcoma for five years. She discovered the art table at Brenner Children’s Hospital when she started her treatment in 2007, and looks forward to creating art with Arts For Life’s teachers as she continues her treatments today.

Carrie carefully considers the daily project and creates each one with care. She was first drawn to pastels, but has recently discovered the joy of printmaking. Each of Carrie’s signature pieces bring a smile to those who see them – they are full of bold colors and her bright imagination shines in each piece.

Even Carrie’s teachers are giddy when they see her name on the list because she loves to learn about art, engages in fun and silly conversations, and has a contagious giggle.

‘My Life Is Bold’ a

poetry-to-music

project

Music is an integral part of the support services the Arts For Life team offers to young patients and families. Arts For Life Music Fellow Colin Allured describes his job as “growing happy cells where cancer cells used to be.” In 2009, Becca Stevens sang at an AFL fundraiser and she and her father, William Stevens, had the idea to set some of the childrens’ poetry to music for the event. The idea for a CD of songs created from AFL kids’ poetry was born.

The resulting CD is a compilation of fourteen incredible songs: some sweet and poignant, some happy and silly, all genuine and heartfelt. Arts For Life could not have accomplished this small miracle without the generosity of the Stevens family, arvato Bertelsmann, Shorewood Packaging, Ovation Sound, and countless musicians and community members.

If you are interesting in purchasing a CD (100% of the proceeds benefit Arts For Life’s programs), please contact: Bill Stevens at WmStevens@triad.rr.com

Charity Chicks The Charity Chicks are a group of women of all ages and backgrounds in the greater Winston Salem area with one thing in common: they are committed to making a difference in their community - and having a great time doing it!

For 2011, Arts For Life was the beneficiary of the Chicks’ charitable endeavors. They hosted a number of fundraising events to benefit AFL, like Concert for a Cause and Groovin’ and Givin’, and were instrumental in planning and pulling off the Fancy Pants Dance in November. They also helped assemble art kits, held art supply drives, and volunteered at numerous Arts For Life community events throughout the year.

In addition to raising $11,300 for Arts For Life, the Charity Chicks gave hundreds of hours of volunteer time as well as their love and support throughout 2011. We thank the Chicks for their friendship and generosity of spirit.

www.charitychicksnc.com

84

in 2011, our team at AFL winston-salem taught over hours of art lessons each week to patients, siblings, and family members

Arts For Life

Art Show!

Inspired Artwork from the Young Artists In Arts For Life’s Programs

From top left, clockwise: “Cat,” by Taylor, age 14; “Shoe” print by Gabriel, age 8; “Cat,” by Latisha, age 18; “Splendid Sunset,” by Kaylee, age 8; “The Evening Elephants,” by Rima, age 9; Self-portrait by Maddy, age 17; “New York Reflections,” by Sydney, age 10

music fellows:

colin and mike

This year, we welcomed a second Music Fellow, Mike Chamis, to the Arts For Life team! With seven-year AFL veteran Colin Allured touring a bit more with his bands, a second Music Fellow was required to make sure our young patients and families would have no breaks in their music lessons and jam sessions! With his incredible skill in guitar, voice, and percussion and his warm, friendly, approachable teaching style, Mike Chamis and his guitar are welcomed into hospital rooms with open arms on the 9th Floor Pediatric Hematology & Oncology Clinic.

Colin recorded a special Arts For Life CD of his own this year. “Like a Diamond” was inspired by patients who would ask for Colin around the clock! This CD, made up of classics and several of Colin’s originals, is available to any child on the 9th floor who requests Colin when he’s not there. Colin’s soothing voice and familiar guitar licks on CD are like a balm to patients undergoing treatment.

Colin and Mike each bring the best of their unique talents and teaching skills to the kids on the 9th floor. With funding from grants and Brenner Children’s Hospital, Arts For Life provides 12 hours of music lessons to patients and family members each week.

Top left: Colin and AJ, jamming on guitars Bottom left: Mike Chamis

We have the Jerome S. and Grace H. Murray Foundation, the Winston-Salem Foundation, and the North Carolina Arts Council to thank for making Arts For Life’s Music Fellowship Program possible in 2011.

This program was supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

In to

2011, AFL Winston-Salem taught

4,119

art & music lessons

1,153 patients, siblings, & family members at Brenner Hospital!

AFL’s

tenth

Anniversary

Portrait

Project

In early 2011, the Program Directors from each chapter put their creative heads together and decided on a special portrait project, to which kids from all four chapters would contribute. Self-portraits are a favorite project among AFL patients, families, and teachers; they are a fun and insightful way to learn new artistic skills, express creativity, and tell personal stories.

Program Director Betsey McLawhorn guided nine AFL Winston-Salem patients in creating 5”x5” portraits, which later were “quilted” onto a canvas to create a collaborative art piece. This special original artwork was auctioned off at the Fancy Pants Dance in November, with all the proceeds going to benefit our art programs at Brenner. Bravo! to all the young artists of AFL who contributed to this unique project.

Fancy Pants Dance!

On November 5, Winston-Salem party-goers were decked out in their Fanciest Pants to raise money for AFL Winston-Salem’s programs. The Fancy Pants Dance featured dinner, drinks, dancing to live music from the Martha Bassett Band, a Live and Silent Auction, a special 10-year anniversary video debut, the launch of the ‘My Life Is Bold’ CD project, and, of course, a Most Fanciful Pants contest!

“We were excited to share Arts For Life with members of the Winston-Salem community, old friends and new” says Arts For Life Executive Director Shea Godwin. “The Fancy Pants Dance was a fun, whimsical way to raise funds that support and enrich the minds, hearts and spirits of thousands of young patients struggling with serious illnesses and disabilities. More than 125 community members came to see the kids’ artwork, hear the stories, and be part of bringing top-notch educational art and music programs to these special children and their families.”

The Fancy Pants Dance raised $19,000 for AFL Winston-Salem’s educational art programs. The Dance was made possible with the support of Wake Forest Baptist Health, A New Leaf, Sessions Specialty Company, Corn Products, Walter Robb Callahan and Pierce, Hunter James Inc. & Diamont Designs, Marilyn’s Modeling Agency, Sunland Fire Protection, Inc., and The Green Foundation. We especially send our gratitude to the Fancy Pants Dance Committee: Event Chair Melanie Diamont, Kitty Amos, Lynn Andrews, Jill Atherton, Carolyn Bailey, Karen Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Gledhill, Anna Jarrell, Elizabeth Messick, Debra Orden, Katie Pepper, Anne Sessions, Laura Statham Stallings, Mary Craig Tennille, and Susan Wiles.

2011: the arts for life new in

keepsake

collection art prints

notecards

Did You Know?

Our educational art programs: • Utilize art stations, art teachers, and art lessons to transform and improve healthcare environments; • Provide hospitalized and seriously ill children access to the arts and education; • Help young patients and their families cope with short and long term effects of illness; • Give patients opportunities to interact with peers (other patients and siblings); • Foster patients’ imaginations, critical thinking skills, and creativity; • Help patients to set and achieve goals;

In 3 sizes, ready to frame!

see the entire collection:

...and more!

keepsake.aflnc.org

• Guide patients in focusing on positive activities during waiting times and during stressful experiences; • Provide positive educational experiences that add a sense of purpose and accomplishment to children’s lives.

Thank You! To the People

Who Made Our Work Possible In 2011 Our deepest appreciation goes to our friends at Brenner Children’s Hospital. With the hospital’s support, Arts For Life strives to bring peace, light, and laughter to young patients on their darkest days. We could not accomplish our work without the support of Dr. Marcia Wofford, Jeff Ungetheim, Penny Blake, Russ DuBois and the Visual and Performing Arts Committee, and the incredible nurses and healthcare professionals at Brenner.

We send our heartfelt thanks to our friends: Ann and Thomas Anderson Jan Assimos Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Babcock Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bell, Jr. Karin and Felix Blanchard Suzanne Case Mary Beth and Chris Chapman Faye and Steven Conlin Dr. and Mrs. Frederick Depp Melanie Diamont David Faber Karen and Mike Fitzgerald Gina and Samuel Fornecker Deloris Gallagher Elizabeth and James Gledhill

Marilyn Green Bobby Green Weston Hatfield Anna and Jesse Jarrell Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Kinken Larry & Lindy Koralik Kevin and Amy McMullen Elizabeth Messick Dr. Michael Morykwas Randy Norris Carole and Robert Nowak Debra and Demetrio Orden Eva Rodtwitt Diane Samelak Amber and William Scavo

Frances and Robert Seehausen Anne and Steve Sessions Lora and John Sessions Laura Statham Amy Pope and Michael Stinnett Jerry Swicegood Lisa and Ed Timberlake, Jr. Deedee and Jeff Ungetheim Bob and Polly Voegele Barbara M. Wilkerson Ronnie Lee Willard Marcia Wofford Zachary Wright and many more...

and our community partners and sponsors: A New Leaf Augsburg Lutheran Church BlueCross BlueShield of NC Charity Chicks Corn Products International Dills Entertainment Five Loaves Catering Fleshman-Pratt Foundation Gratzi’s Greensboro Auto Auction

For more info on

Arts For Life:

Scan with your Smartphone!

Happy Rentz, Inc. Hunter James, Inc. Molly Hawkins House Mullen Jerome S. & Grace H. Murray Foundation North Carolina Arts Council North Davidson High School Novant Health Sessions Specialty Co.

Southern Community Bank & Trust Sunland Fire Protection, Inc. Twin City Kiwanis Foundation Baptist Medical Center Walter Robbs Callahan & Pierce Wells Fargo Winston-Salem Foundation and others...

How You Can Help: Make a donation to sustain our vital arts programming Host a Coffee Talk or a House Party to share your support with friends Volunteer at Brenner, teaching art to young patients Organize a Cakes For Kids Bake Sale to benefit Arts For Lifet Contact us today to find out about opportunities to get involved!

CONTACT arts for life

info@a

flnc.or

828-65

8-1599

g

!