University students are helping to heal patients through the power of music and art by participating in the Baton Rouge General’s Arts in Medicine program at Baton Rouge General Hospitals.
Baton Rouge General’s Arts in Medicine program recently partnered with the University College of Music and Dramatic Arts’ Janice H. Pellar Creative Arts Entrepreneurship Project to allow students to think of ways to not only make money, but think about how each individual can use their unique resources in the community, said project founder and University professor of music Joseph Skillen.
The Arts in Medicine program began in fall 2012 and isn’t only reserved for student volunteers. Community groups and people from across the city participate in the program that holds music and art events every Friday at the Mid-City or Bluebonnet hospital locations, said Arts in Medicine program supervisor Kim Henderson.
The partnership between the University and Baton Rouge General began this semester, and Skillen said so far students have played music or created art for patients and visitors on select Fridays in a variety of different ways.
“We have theater students that are performing essentially in places that might be as large as a lobby where they might just be providing music or art that will make the place more pleasing for folks that are walking through,” he said. “In some instances, people are walking room to room and interacting with patients individually and are playing music for them that they might want to hear. In other settings, we’re just kind of going into waiting rooms and playing while people might be sort of sitting in boredom or anxiety – we’re able to go in and make that space a lot more humane for them.”
Henderson said she has seen the dramatic effects the program has had on patients who are, for example, comatose and wake up and smile, as well as patients who change their entire demeanor during a music session, she said.
“It’s really amazing to see the power of music with the patients themselves – it’s breathtaking,” she said.
Music education senior Jessica Ottaviano has experienced how powerful music and art are as a healing force by participating in the Pellar project.
Ottaviano was with a Baton Rouge General music therapist who was going to perform for a burn victim in pediatrics during one of the recent music sessions. She said the young patient “was sort of angry and not in a good mood,” but that changed when the music started.
“His attitude totally changed, he was really excited and wanted us to play more songs with him, and he wanted to keep playing the drums,” she said.
University alumna and Baton Rouge General board of trustees member Janice H. Pellar is a donor after whom which the Pellar project is named after, Skillen said.
“[Pellar] wanted students to realize that they have more skills for running businesses and being entrepreneurial than they think they do,” he said. “Even though they’re studying arts, they’re actually learning a whole lot of skills that transfer into running a business.”
Skillen said students are learning first-hand the concept of social entrepreneurship and how entrepreneurship in general can have different motivations.
“Entrepreneurship isn’t always financially driven: sometimes it’s opportunity based, and then finances follow,” he said.
Ottaviano has benefitted from the program already and said the entrepreneurial aspect of the project has helped her to grow in that area.
“It’s helped me realize that if you have an idea… there’s really nothing stopping you,” she said. “If you have an idea that you think is going to work, you just have to reach out to people.”
Skillen said students from all disciplines are invited to partake in the project, and so far, he is pleased with the partnership between the two projects.
“It really shows our students that [patients] are realizing how powerful their art really is,” he said. “I think it’s something the community desperately needs, and I think it’s something that is great that LSU is once again showing its ability to reach out into the community and show the community what we have to offer, because we have a lot.”
“It’s really amazing to see the power of music with the patients themselves – it’s breathtaking.”
