Professionals artists bring music, theatre, visual arts lessons to young patients at Kaiser Permanente
SAN JOSE, CA—December 21, 2016— Today, Starting Arts (www.startingarts.com), in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, celebrates the launch of a Healing Arts program for pediatric oncology patients at the Santa Clara Kaiser facility.
Thanks to a generous Sponsorship Grant from Kaiser Permanente, professional artists visit children at the Kaiser hospital in Santa Clara and provide one on one, or small group lessons in music theatre and visual arts.
“No child should be deprived of the arts,” said Starting Arts Executive Director, Ann Watts. “The therapeutic benefits of arts on pediatric oncology patients is undeniable and we want to do our part to give these brave patients a healing hand.”
In 2015, Starting Arts started a pilot program with the hospital through a grant from the Rotary Club of Santa Clara. During that time, our artist provided music lessons bedside to nearly 50 young oncology patients.
With help of additional funding, Starting Arts hopes to expand the program to more hospitals and to include all in-house pediatric patients.
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About Starting Arts (www.startingarts.com)
Located in San Jose, Starting Arts is a California 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that actively promotes all arts disciplines: Dance, Theatre, Music, Visual Arts and Film. Starting Arts was inspired by the simple observation that something special happens when young people connect with the arts. A unique learning environment materializes where students think and communicate through images, music and movement. Arts education creates opportunities for students to develop key life skills and evolve into confident, articulate, team-conscious members of our communities. We believe that an education without arts exposure is incomplete and falls far short of extraordinary. That unwavering belief has translated into a mission: to make arts education accessible to all students in Bay Area schools. Since its inception in 2000, Starting Arts has served over one hundred schools.