Arts & Minds offers group programs for people with memory loss and their care partners:

• ​​In museums around New York City
• Online via Zoom
• At older adult and community center partner sites​

ONLINE
Arts & Minds @home
Mondays and Tuesdays on Zoom
2-3pm
IN-PERSON
Monthly pop-up programs at NYC partner museums and other venues.

​At each session, we share historic and contemporary art from some of the most important museum collections in New York: The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and El Museo del Barrio. We also partner with The Jewish Museum, Bard Graduate Center Gallery and others.  See calendar below for upcoming programs.

Arts & Minds en Español

El arte tiene el poder de inspirar y transformar

​PRIVATE SESSIONS TAILORED TO YOUR INDIVIDUAL NEEDS       
Schedule a private session with an Arts & Minds museum educator or teaching artist for art conversation or art making. Meet in a museum, invite us to your home, or connect via zoom. Sessions will be tailored to the interests and needs of the person living with memory loss and their family or professional caregivers.
 
Contact us for pricing and to schedule a session or series of sessions at [email protected]

There are no mistakes in art.
​— Celia, Arts & Minds participant

The whole point of art is to make mistakes.
— Megan, Arts & Minds participant

I'd like to attend a program

Quiero asistir a un programa

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

I'd like to attend a program

Arts & Minds offers many different programs: ​​

• Dialogue and Art-Making: View and interpret one artwork and then express yourself by making art.
• Conversation: Join the discussion centered on 3-4 artworks from the collections of our museum partners,  organized around a theme.
• Art and the Senses: Tap into the senses to open up new possibilities and meanings in art. Connect sight, smell, hearing, touch and even taste to discover new meanings.
• Art and Movement: Explore how movement can bring deeper understanding to both works of art and collective experience. 
• Self-care for Caregivers: Take time to experience art with others caring for individuals with dementia through meditation, close-looking and drawing.
• Studio Visit: Go behind the scenes with a guest artist as they take you on a virtual tour of their studio. 
• Rhythm & Reason, with Jazz Artist Helen Sung and a Visiting Scientist: Move to the music and learn a bit about how music affects our brains and bodies.

What to expect during an Arts & Minds program

• Whenever you attend one of our programs, you are greeted by an Arts & Minds artist. The first few minutes are devoted to getting settled in and getting to know the other participants before the educator introduces the activities to come.
• Then, we’ll gather around a selected work of art to look, contemplate and reflect. After some minutes of peaceful contemplation, we start to share the thoughts and emotions that the artwork has awakened in us.
• The educator leads a group conversation to help us connect with each other as we explore the meaning together. We share background information about the artist and talk about color, shape, subject matter, and other aspects of the work such as the use of materials, and most importantly, what the art means to each of us.
• Depending on the program, the discussion will be followed by an art workshop to experiment with materials and create art in a supportive atmosphere. At Arts & Minds, everyone can be an artist! There are no mistakes! Whatever happens, happens.
• ​If you feel like it, you can share your work with everyone. Together we’ll look at everyone’s creations, and talk about what inspires us.​​

All materials are supplied at in-person programs.
If you are participating in an online program from home, follow this link for a list of suggested supplies.
​If you want to start out small, get the Watercolor Pad - 9" x 12" and a set of watercolor paints. 

I'd like to attend a program

Arts & Minds partners with community organizations.

Arts & Minds partners with Older Adult Centers, Adult Day Centers, Naturally Occurring Retirement Centers (NORCs) and other community organizations. We bring our museum-based programs to your site in New York City for short or long-term residencies.
If you would like to bring Arts & Minds to your center, or have questions about partnering with us, please use the form below to contact us!

     ​​Arts & Minds has been part of our programming at MRHS since April 2022. The response from our clients has been exhilarating. Attendees have benefitted in myriad ways, from being able to express their creativity both verbally and through their artwork, to using the art as a catharsis for the emotional highs and lows they experience as they navigate the challenges of cognitive impairment. Arts & Minds has been an invaluable addition to the services we provide and we are proud to be associated with this special organization.
— Robin Aloi, LMSW, Social Worker, Morningside Retirement and Health Services, Inc. (MRHS)

Programs for Caregivers / Programas para Cuidadores

Collage for Caregivers

A series of online art workshops for caregivers of people with memory loss or dementia, offered in the Spring and Fall.
​Collage for Caregivers combines art conversation with art making. Find respite and inspiration in the collections of Studio Museum in Harlem, El Museo del Barrio, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Create collage artworks in paper, fabric and mixed media.
Participants will receive complementary art supplies by mail.

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​Collage para cuidadores

Una serie de talleres artísticos en linea para cuidadores de personas con pérdida de memoria o demencia, durante la primavera y el otoño.
Collage para cuidadores combina la conversación y la creación artística. Encuentra tranquilidad e inspiración en las colecciones del Studio Museum de Harlem, el Museo del Barrio y el Museo Metropolitano de Arte. Crea obras de collage en papel, tela y técnicas mixtas.
Los participantes recibirán materiales artísticos complementarios por correo.

Caregivers at The Met: an Arts & Minds Support Group

This program is exclusively designed for caregivers

Fran Kaufman, photograph from the series, Who are you and what are you doing in my bed?

Explore art in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and discuss issues of caregiving and self-care with Carolyn Halpin-Healy and Joyce Visceglia, MSW. 
This program will be held live, in-person at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Third Thursday each month from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm.

REGISTER HERE

Joyce P. Visceglia, MSW is a social worker concerned with the physical, social and emotional health, safety and well-being of all people, from the very young to the very old. As the Consulting Social Worker at Arts & Minds, Ms. Visceglia provides clinical expertise and coaches Arts & Minds program facilitators on positive interaction in programs for people with dementia and their professional and family caregivers. She collaborates with Arts & Minds on professional development for museums nationally and internationally.

Carolyn Halpin-Healy is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Arts & Minds. In addition to her work designing programs and providing training for museum staff and volunteers to conduct person-centered dialogue for individuals with dementia and their caregivers, she has completed support group leader training with the Alzheimer’s Association.