Through the Healing Arts program, we provide opportunities for cancer patients, caregivers and the broader community to engage with the arts.
The arts have powerful healing properties because art connects your mind and your body. Unlike exercise, which works your body, or meditation, which clears your mind, creating art uses both, which research suggests has major health benefits.
When a patient works with an art or music therapist, they can expect to receive the same benefits as traditional talk therapy. In cancer care, we focus on several goals to help relieve the emotional concerns of a cancer diagnosis, including:
The David DiChiera Music Therapy Program brings music therapy to cancer patients, their families and caregivers.
Learn more about the Art Therapy at the Henry Ford Cancer Institute, including what programs are available.
Each fall, we showcase the artwork our patients and staff have created in the during the year. This traveling show spends a week in multiple locations across the system, so the artwork can be enjoyed by all. See some highlights from our Fall 2019 show below. Stay tuned for details about our 2020 Patient Art Show!
Art by Adelle, West Bloomfield
Portrait by Jim K.
Art by Etta Z, Macomb
Art by Judy C., Macomb
Art by Judy, Macomb
Art by Macomb Art Therapy Group
Art by Marcia, Detroit
Art by Maureen V., West Bloomfield
Art by Monica, Detroit
Art by Carey D., Macomb
If you are an artist interested in sharing your time and/or talents with Henry Ford Cancer Institute patients, families and staff, contact our healing arts curator.
It is through the support and contributions of donors like you that we can provide art and music therapy programs and activities at no-cost to our cancer patients and their families. To sponsor a program or care it forward with a gift, please contact the development office at (313) 876-1031 or email developmenthf@hfhs.org. All contributions are tax-deductible.
With a passion for the arts and a keen eye as an interior designer, Lindsay Anderson knows how important the right space can be. It was this passion that inspired her to establish the Lindsay Anderson Healing Arts Curator Fund at Henry Ford Health System. This generous gift supports a curator for the Healing Arts program at the Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion. The Healing Arts Program creates a calming environment for patients, visitors and staff by integrating the creative arts and aesthetic experiences into the healing process.
Music is more than just entertainment—it can promote healing, too. David DiChiera, founder and longtime director of the Michigan Opera Theatre knew this. In honor of David, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2018, Joanne Danto, along with her family through the Marvin & Betty Danto Foundation, established the David DiChiera Music Therapy Program at the Henry Ford Cancer Institute. Their goal is to ensure that cancer patients have access to healing therapies that better position them mentally and physically for their fight ahead.
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