NYC Health + Hospitals Presents New Exhibition Offering a Unique Inside Look at Dance and Music Therapy on Rikers

NYC Health + Hospitals Presents New Exhibition Offering a Unique Inside Look at Dance and Music Therapy on Rikers

Bringing It Back marks the first time that dance/movement and music therapy sessions for individuals incarcerated on Rikers Island have ever been recorded for the public, in photos and on film

The exhibition, also available online, makes its in-person debut at an event at Carnegie Hall before moving to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue

Nov 21, 2024

New York, NY - Beginning today, NYC Health + Hospitals presents Bringing It Back: The Impact of Creative Arts Therapy at Rikers & Beyond, a new exhibition offering a unique inside look at dance/movement and music therapy for people in custody on Rikers Island. Bringing It Back showcases video footage and photographs of creative arts therapy sessions in New York City jail facilities, the first such recordings to be made available to the public. The exhibition also features original art, music, and written compositions by participants in NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services' (CHS) Creative Arts Therapy program-the oldest and largest jail-based arts therapy program in the nation-alongside complementary selections from NYC Health + Hospitals' extensive Arts in Medicine collection.

In its entirety, Bringing It Back celebrates art as not only a universal language that connects Rikers to the larger community but also a form of therapeutic intervention imbued with beauty, joy, and healing. Selections from the exhibition and a short film about dance/movement and music therapy on Rikers will debut at a one-night event at Carnegie Hall and then move to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, where they will be on public display for several months. The full exhibition is accessible indefinitely on the Bloomberg Connects app.

Attendees listen to songs by CHS patients recorded during creative arts therapy sessions at Rikers.

"Our dedicated team of creative arts therapists work with CHS' mental health patients on Rikers to help them develop their narrative identities, self-advocacy skills, self-knowledge, and sense of agency," said Barbara Bethea, Director of the NYC Health + Hospitals/ Correctional Health Services Creative Arts Therapy Department. "Past exhibitions have displayed the striking creative output of that collaborative work, so we are thrilled this year to invite viewers to join patients on their creative journeys through dance/movement and music therapy sessions."

"Bringing it Back celebrates the profound therapeutic benefits of drum circles and dance, honoring the journey of healing as deeply entwined with the creative process," said Larissa Trinder, Assistant Vice President, NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine. "Our intention is that this exhibition brings viewers perspectives from Rikers they would otherwise never see and empathy for the vulnerability, strength, and joy conveyed by all the patients and collection works on display."

Bringing It Back is a collaboration between NYC Health + Hospitals' Arts in Medicine and CHS' Creative Arts Therapy, two programs that use creative practices to foster emotional well-being and promote healing for the health system's patients. The exhibition is funded by the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, a New York City-based foundation that strives to improve access and opportunity for all New Yorkers and to foster healthy and vibrant communities.

More than half of the individuals in CHS' care are receiving mental health services. CHS' Creative Arts Therapy participants attend individual and group sessions with licensed creative arts therapists as part of their mental health treatment while they are detained on Rikers. More than 90 participants contributed more than 100 creative expressions-including signs, books, drawings, embellished garments, songs, and dance moves-to this year's exhibition.

"I feel like dance is a doorway to express yourself," said A.I., one of eight CHS patients who participated in the filmed dance/movement therapy session. "It's a way to show all the hurt and pain you've been going through. And it's also a good way to let people see a talent that you have that you might not have known you had. In all the sad times, you've got to enjoy all the little good moments you have."

The panel featured Dr. Barbara Bethea, Associate Director of Creative Arts Therapy for CHS; CHS Dance/Movement Therapist Grace Luttrull, CHS Creative Arts Therapy Supervisor and Music Therapist Jeff Angell, former CHS patient Jamol S., and Founder and Director of the Reentry Theater of Harlem Alex Anderson.

Extensive research demonstrates that arts programs for incarcerated individuals lead to improved self-esteem, emotional stability, well-being, and socialization skills, as well as reduced stress and anger. Exhibitions of their artwork have also helped participants feel "seen" by people in the community, serving as a bridge between those inside and outside carceral facilities.Bringing It Back footage of a dance/movement therapy session and a music therapy drumming group on Rikers offers viewers the chance to see these benefits firsthand.

The 2024 CHS creative arts therapy exhibitionshowcases patients' work alongside selections from the NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine collection by artists Charles Abramson, Russ Thompson, Liliana Porter, and Antonio Navia. Together, their unfinished nature-with sections of canvas left intentionally blank, hastily sketched lines, and figures rendered with little detail-conveys a message that healing is just as much about the journey as the final destination.

This year marks the first time the NYC Health + Hospital system has displayed CHS patients' artworks at an event at Carnegie Hall. A major cultural institution in New York City, Carnegie Hall has a history of serving people involved in the criminal-legal system. Such initiatives include Musical Connections, which invites men at Sing Sing Correctional Facility to create and perform music with visiting artists, and Future Music Project, which gives justice-involved youth the opportunity to create, perform, and produce their own original music. Carnegie Hall has also collaborated with the Arts in Medicine department on system-wide staff well-being initiatives.

"Though Carnegie Hall's own work across justice spaces for more than fifteen years, we have seen the impact that music and art can have, not only on individuals who are incarcerated, but on the artists, staff, and audience members who are fortunate enough to experience programming in these settings," said Sarah Johnson, Chief Education Officer and Director, Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute. "NYC Health + Hospitals is a leader in this space, and we were thrilled to be able to host their Bringing it Back exhibition in Carnegie Hall's Resnick Education Wing."

After the Nov. 20 event featuring a short film screening and panel discussion, the exhibition traveled to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, where it will be on view to the public through June 2025. Bellevue Hospital will also serve as the location of the first Outposted Therapeutic Housing Unit, a secure clinical unit for CHS patients with serious health conditions, which is expected to open in 2025.

"We know from decades of scientific study that the arts have an important role to play in reducing stress, helping individuals in their healing process, and in building resilience," said Laurie Tisch, founder and president of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. "Access to the arts and participating in arts programs is particularly important for people who have experienced trauma and incarceration. We are proud to support this groundbreaking program and exhibition at Carnegie Hall and to celebrate the remarkable work of the Correctional Health patients shown alongside works from the NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine collection."

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MEDIA CONTACT: Nicole Levy, NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services, [email protected]

About NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services
Correctional Health Services (CHS), a division of NYC Health + Hospitals, is the direct provider of health care in New York City's jails. Our in-jail services include: medical, nursing, and mental health care; social work services; substance-use treatment; dental and vision care; discharge planning; and reentry support. In addition to providing direct patient care, CHS leverages the resources of the nation's largest municipal health care system to help discharged patients successfully return to their communities. CHS is also a pivotal partner in New York City's criminal-legal reform efforts.

About NYC Health + Hospitals' Arts in Medicine Program
The Arts in Medicine department at NYC Health + Hospitals seeks to foster the emotional well-being and promote healing and wellness for all patients and their families, employees, and the greater community by utilizing the arts, including literary, visual, and performing arts throughout the health care system. In addition to managing the system's significant visual arts collection, the Arts in Medicine department encourages evidenced based practices and provides technical assistance to all of the system's health care facilities and clinics. This is accomplished by combining artistic innovation and education into a comprehensive health care continuum that supports the healing benefits of the arts. For more information, visit https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/artsinmedicine/.

About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation. We are a network of 11 hospitals, trauma centers, neighborhood health centers, nursing homes, and post-acute care centers. We are a home care agency and a health plan, MetroPlus. Our health system provides essential services to more than one million New Yorkers every year in more than 50 locations across the city's five boroughs. Our diverse workforce of more than 43,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

About the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
The Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund is a New York City-based foundation that strives to improve access and opportunity for all New Yorkers and foster healthy and vibrant communities. The Illumination Fund plays an active role in supporting innovative approaches across a range of issues - ensuring that the arts and arts education are accessible to all, promoting civic service, and promoting economic opportunity. In 2018, the Illumination Fund launched Arts in Health, a multi-year initiative to support organizations working on health issues that impact New York communities and that emphasize the arts as a tool for healing and building understanding. The initiative's areas of focus include the role of the arts in addressing mental illness stigma, trauma, and aging-related diseases. In 2019 the Illumination Fund supported the creation of NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine Program, expanding programs serving health care staff, patients, and communities in sites across the City. The partnership also enabled NYC Health + Hospitals to launch new programs that use the arts as a resource to promote employee wellness and resilience and to combat compassion fatigue. The Illumination Fund's support to organizations goes beyond funding, as it serves as a connector and convener to enable robust collaboration across the City. In 2021, in part due to the Covid 19 Pandemic, the Illumination Fund expanded its focus areas to include the arts in mental health. For more information, visit www.lmtif.org or follow @LMTischFund on Twitter.

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