Information on Cathy's work at Shands Arts in Medicine
The success of your music program depends on properly trained musicians and the creation of community in the hospital. Cathy DeWitt, Musician in Residence and Coordinator of Music Programs for Shands Arts in Medicine since 1995, offers specific workshops and residencies to help you successfully experience and share the healing power of music in your facility. Her programs are user-friendly and designed to produce results right away.
In the training programs you will learn to:
• Screen, train and organize artists
• Choose the right music and instruments for different situations
• Establish a sense of trust from administrators, nurses, doctors and staff
• Create community partners for increasing resources & public awareness
• Utilize successful fundraising techniques
• Learn the secrets of recruiting and retaining artists
• Harness the power of music to transform the hospital experience
For
more information
CathyDew@aol.com
Here is a sample of Cathy’s workshops which can be customized for your situation, whether your program is in its infancy or you are looking to take it to the next level.
• Nuts, Bolts & Notes: Building a Hospital Music Program from the Ground Floor Up
This workshop shows the best ways to start, expand and maintain a music program in YOUR healthcare setting.• Marketing Your Program: From Recruitment to the Gala Fund-Raiser!
Learn to use partnerships, public relations and the press to enhance awareness in the community and visibility within the institution.• Melody, Memory, Modes, and Moods: Using Music to Trigger Memories, Create Community and Enhance Mood.
This program has an experiential aspect, and offers a specialization for Alzheimer’s and dementia clients. Explore the unique way music creates both an individual subjective experience and a community experience.
An eclectic professional musician since the 1970’s, Cathy DeWitt has shared the stage and the airwaves with Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger, Garrison Keillor, Florida folk legend Will McLean, and jazz pianists Dave Frischberg and Rob Bargad. A jazz vocalist and pianist, bluegrass guitar picker and folksinger, she serves on the Boards of the Gainesville Friends of Jazz and the Friends of Florida Folk. She is a nationally published writer, a public radio host, and a concert producer. In 1995 she found an unexpected setting for her musical versatility: the Shands Arts in Medicine program in Gainesville, Florida, where she has spent the last eleven years creating a pioneering, world-renowned Music in Medicine program. From piano playing in the hospital lobby to elevator singalongs, and from hallway concerts to bedside harp in the ICUs, Cathy uses music to transform the hospital environment and the patient experience.
In 2001 she was commissioned by VSA arts of Florida and the Department of State to write and edit “Piece by Piece: Building Successful Arts in Healthcare Programs.” This handbook is based on eleven consults with healthcare facilities throughout the state. Since then she has presented workshops and seminars for many universities, arts agencies, and hospitals, including conferences for the Society for the Arts in Healthcare and retreats for Unity Association of Churches. Her consultant clients include Vanderbilt University, San Diego Hospice, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and the Royal Hospital in London. She is the winner of a Fetzer Grant for her Healing Music Programs, the Florida Arts Council Individual Artist Enhancement Grant, and the National League of Penwomen Award for Music.
