Enriching Health through Creativity
THIT406 Creative Aging Full MixLMKEdits.mp3
Transcript
Trina Filan
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Talking Health and the Four Oh six, where we're one community under the Big Sky. I'm Trina Feylin, a public health evaluator.
Margaret Mullins
And I'm Margaret Mullins, a social determinants of health program manager.
Trina Filan
We have with us today two great guests from the Montana Arts Council. Going to call it MAC for short. We're going to be talking with us about how the arts are vital. To individual and community health and well-being. We get to hear about a very cool collaboration between the Montana Arts Council and the Montana State Library called Creative Aging, as well as a bunch of other projects. This is going to be a terrific conversation. Our guests are Krys Holmes, executive director of the Montana Arts Council, and Monica Grable, the Arts education coordinator at MAC.
Margaret Mullins
So for everyone listening out there, we know that the arts have a deep connection to health. In fact, the arts directly improve individual and community health in a number of ways, including boosting revenues for local businesses, building kids brains, and helping them do better in school. Reducing isolation and enhancing social well-being. Preserving Montana 's cultural heritage and contributing to overall community development. We're really excited to just dive into these topics.
Trina Filan
The Montana Cardiovascular Health Program has just begun exploring opportunities for connecting projects to help people control their blood pressure with the arts, and we're excited to hear more about art, health and collaboration. Krys and Monica.
Trina Filan
Can you each?
Trina Filan
Tell us a little bit about yourselves and how you became interested in the way the arts impact health. Take it away, Krys.
Krys Holmes
I can talk about this all day. I it's one of the one of the new focuses at on a national level at the National Endowment for the Arts and the Surgeon General and the Centers for Disease Control. And other organizations that are focusing on public health and how we are doing with public health on a number of different levels. And there's an awareness that in the last. Fifty or a hundred years, there's been a tremendous amount of research and experimentation in pharMACeuticals and surgeries that. Allows us. To have these health outcomes that a hundred years ago, or even fifty years ago would have seemed absolutely miraculous. But there's all this potential for researching how. Sound and music and art and color and participation in making art and the interaction of artworks on the brain and art activity on the brain and the nervous system. All this potential that we see. But not a lot of research has been done, so we're kind of at the beginning of that adventure. And like you say, we know on an instinctive level all the benefits that participating in the arts and generative activities. Have children and adults and people of all ages in all kinds of communities, but we're now putting the science behind it. That really supports and. Give. Reasonable proven data and knowledge behind how to make those benefits. Maximize those benefits in all kinds of activities and scenarios. So I'm interested in all of that because I believe that art belongs everywhere. As the head of the Montana Arts Council of. I. That but I have a lot of. Experience in using art in my own personal health journey and. Have participated in a number of different projects and witnessed a number of different projects that have just been so exciting to me this field. Just opens up a whole new area of possibilities at a time when I believe we personally need it most in our society needs it most. We are so disconnected from one another and we have. This shortened attention spans. Jamba Juice happening to our brains and our nervous systems all the time. And to me, what art brings really addresses. So many of those issues, and it's something that we can do. Together in our own communities on a very local and personal level. So collaborations like this are really exciting to me.
Trina Filna
Thanks. How about you, Monica? What's your background and how does this interest you?
Monica Grable
Well, my background is sort of equal parts community arts presenting and work in the field of education. I was an A visual arts teacher at the secondary level for fourteen years. And during that time, I also had opportunities to work with older adults outside of the school day doing community programs. Various kinds. So I come to it with that background, my role at the Montana Arts Council is as arts education director. I really see it as my mandate sort of to make sure that we are educating. The whole person throughout their life and you know, helping support those activities through our grant making, etc. That make it possible for, in particular, older adults. Who are no longer in school? To gain educational opportunities, opportunities and hearts, learning, and those are fewer and farther between than people might realize. You know we we focus so much attention on the, you know, sort of robust sequential arts learning that happens in AK twelve environment. And then a person may go on and have opportunities to study at the college level. And then after that, it's just sort of. Been the case that it's dropped off and become maybe a social activity or that kind of thing. If the adult hasn't engaged in a particular program of study. So. We're working to advance and what I personally see as very valuable. Work is making sure that older adults also have the opportunity to access robust sequential arts learning that builds on itself. The primary goal that we have really is to ensure that all persons of whatever age and ability have the opportunity to gain arts learning experience.
Krys Holmes
And also. Not just age and ability, but also role. And in town.
Monica Grable
Exactly.
Krys Holmes
Because. There are so the opportunities to do that are so sparse. And Monica, I just.
Speaker
There.
Krys Holmes
I really love the way you talk about the difference between a one off. Go to a class or have a particular. That's really fun and and providing that sequential kind of learning that is skill building for people of all ages to really delve into a craft and learn how to do it well and. And be part, take that craft in as part of your identity. That's what makes a huge difference in people 's. Lives and social connectivity and. Sense, meaning and purpose and depth.
Monica Grable
That's exactly right. It's not at all to knock the fun social activities of sort of a one off. Maybe craftmaking session. Those are the really excellent social activities. I don't think that. Most arts educators would point to those as skill building sessions, which is a key component of creative aging work and and really an essential element. Not only that, skills are. Through the arts learning activities that are offered in the in the workshops, etc. But that they build on one. So that idea of scaffolding that is much talked about at in the K twelve environment. Still applies when we're talking about older adults. We often, you know, encounter older adults in. Those cases we're talking about. Nationally, the creative aging field focuses on learners either fifty five and up or sixty five and up. In Montana, we have tended to lean toward adults over sixty. And those, of course, are adults who have all kinds of learning capabilities. They very much crave learning opportunities, gaining new knowledge, building on our skills in a particular area. Especially taking some. New you know, a component of creative aging work might be a workshop of at least six sessions. Eight is even better and the meetings happen consistently, sort of like the same. Day of the week, same time, week after week after week. Consecutively where those older adults are able to take. Sort. Place based learning in their own communities. Easily accessible and they have the opportunity to gain mastery. Of an. Or medium that they may or may not have had experience in before. Older adults, of course, are very capable of high level learning, and they're at a place in their life where. They have the time or the capacity, sort of the space in their life to open themselves up to these new learning opportunities and. Our our really. Bolstered by the opportunities to not only meet up with their peers, but also to really delve into something they maybe have always wanted to learn, lots of older adults have. These sort of things. They'd always seen themselves doing. They followed a different career path and and didn't have those opportunities. So creative aging work is really based on on that idea that older adults are very capable learners and very much interested in gaining. High level experience. With art making skill in whatever category.
Trina Filan
Thank you, Monica. So. We're gonna dive a lot deeper into a very specific. Project that you did around creative aging a little bit later. I think that that really gave us a good background of the goals that you have the the passion that you have around lifelong learning. Creativity and and arts and their place in everybody 's lives. So thank you.
Margaret Mullins
Krys, so you have a long standing connection to the arts in Montana. It seems like art is everywhere in our state and there's so many ways to interact with art and artists. Can you tell us a little bit about Montana 's art heritage and richness?
Krys Holmes
Montana because we formed in this place where people of so many different cultures. Came together and then the mines and the forests and the homesteads and the farm lands also brought people from all over the world into Montana, which created this unique cultural personality of Montana. That explains why in in a great part, why Montana is so different from Wyoming and Idaho and the decolonization. Because we have this completely multicultural mix and blend of people coming together from all over the world, and that cultural tumult really created. Especially in the more remote areas away from. Railroads and the trails. This wealth of different kinds of cultural expressions and also a holder to participate in that and share in that. Because of the isolation and the distances between communities, creative expression and cultural express. Really have been always a part of Montana 's heritage and. Have really created this incredibly rich tapestry of skills and traditions and art forms. We have this incredible literary. Heritage of great writers and storytellers that come out of Montana, we have here in our state a tremendous wealth of indigenous artists. And producers in a number of different arenas who are so inspiring we have. Very distinct place in the development of modernist history. In Montana, we have some amazing performing artists and composers and of course, ceramic artists.
And.
Krys Holmes
Part of the reason is because of our beautiful. People come here for the for the quiet and the capacity to be inspired. And I think also just survival in some cases, you know, those homesteaders went out there across the prairies in eastern Montana. And you know those square dances and quilting bees were an incredibly important part of their. Lives their survival because. Creatures, and I think the loss of quilting bees and square dances is a really tremendous loss in the world areas because that's what brought people together to kind of build. That serotonin chemical in our bodies and share all kinds of things with our neighbors, whether we argued with them over the fence line or not, you know if. It's when your partner round and round and dosed. You've got to you've got to be. And if you're all tripping over each other 's feet and laughing about it, it creates a social bond as well.
Trina Filan
Thank you, Krys. I think I've. Heard you once say that we used to have. The greatest. Number of painters per capita. In the nation is that. Is that a fact I'm remembering correctly?
Krys Holmes
Yeah, we. We had the highest number of painters per capita in Montana of any state until just. Couple of years ago. There is a reason why artists tend to live in Montana first of all. If you're dedicated to your art more than to your income, that helps keep artists in Montana and just the inspiring landscape and the ability to be here and kind of be away from the clamor of the bigger communities. And bigger city. At the same time, it's really hard to make a living as an artist in Montana, away from your markets and your connections and networks. I don't want to make it sound like this is an artist 's Oasis. In that sense it. Isn't it is a tough uphill struggle to be an artist in Montana.
Trina Filan
Monica. It might benefit folks who are listening to consider. So Krys gave us a good description of arts. It evolved in the state. What kinds of arts are available to people? Now and and they don't have to be formal or structured. I believe we've we've discussed a little bit, although that is helpful for building some skills which we'll talk about later. Where can people find art in their everyday? And what kind? What is art? How would you describe it?
Monica Grable
I think the arts opportunities in Montana, although what Krys has stated is very true. A. It's a. Harder climb for artists in Montana who are counting on our state to help make their living. As a participant.
Krys Holmes
I think what?
Monica Grable
Surprising to those who visit our state from elsewhere is the richness of arts opportunity that. Do have in this. State again, we are looking to advance the learning opportunities. But that is not at all to say that. That there isn't the wealth of performance. In particular, we have lots of festivals which are a really great way. For people of all ages in Montana to access performing. Arts. But you know we have a number of presenting organizations across the state, our universities and college campuses certainly offer opportunities to take in live music for adults who are living in those communities where they have access. To a college or university campus. But. There, there really are no arts that. Out in. You know, all the disciplines are represented. A surprising fact that. People may have a hard time, maybe believing outside our state is that we have seven symphonies a number. Presenting theaters and dance organizations so the arts have had a long, long history in. And they are still very much alive and well, you know, really across the spectrum of arts opportunities. You know, there again is is nothing really that is left out discipline wise. And you know, my past work life was really built on this belief that all audiences are worthy. A rural audience isn't less worthy than a metropolitan audience. And in Montana, you know, our idea of rural is certainly more rural than other states. But there are many, many individuals working to to create access. To arts of all kinds. Across.
Margaret Mullins
Yeah, that was great. Monica. I I like the perspective given our rural state and just understanding that the arts are for everybody and they're everywhere. It's it's encouraging, encouraging thought and thing to know.
Trina Filan
Krys and you? Like you might wanna, he said.
Margaret Mullins
Yeah, same thing.
Krys Holmes
Yeah. One of the things that I love about Montana, I heard this story from my veterinarian who was driving back from. A trip to Minnesota this summer and they stopped at Mukoshika State Park and they saw this little sign that said. There will be a Shakespeare play at eight o'clock tonight and they thought. Oh, how? Some locals are putting on a little Shakespeare play will go and probably sit at, you know, Mukoshika State Park in an in an audience of twenty. And we'll watch this charming local. Performance and it was of course. S. Shakespeare in the parks and there were hundreds of people gathered from all over that region to watch this beautiful, expertly done performance of Shakespeare in the middle of Makosika State Park. That is one. There are these little stories of happening upon a Saturday market where this incredible bluegrass band happens to be playing or. You know, driving along and seeing. Just art everywhere. There are these pockets of excellence and wonder and bewilderment. You know, how does this happen in a place like you know, how does Aunt Dove 's gallery just appear in Willow Creek, Montana? Miles and miles and miles away. Pulse that. That just make it such an adventure across Montana. Artists everywhere, and it's unstoppable.
Monica Grable
I was just going to add another example that I love to tell the story about which is driving through Lincoln, Montana, where of course we have the great fortune to have Blackwood pathways sculpture in the wild. Place based sculptures in the most unlikely of settings and passing the local bar restaurant there in Lincoln with the typical sign that. Exists in so many rural communities across the US where you have sort of like the the plastic sign, you know, with changeable letters. And it said welcome sculptors. They change sculptors to hunters.
Margaret Mullins
Just a month later.
Monica Grable
So I I just felt. That was kind of Montana in a nutshell. Expect the unexpected because. No one. Operate under the assumption that the arts are not here in. They are very much here and and they're to be found the way Krys intimated in the the most unlikely. Of places and it's kind of. You know, one of the most beautiful qualities. We have going in the arts. Our state is is. That the arts can happen everywhere.
Margaret Mullins
I find that so incredibly encouraging, and although already very proud of the arts in Montana, that just that just highlights so many great aspects of it. Thanks for those stories. Aren't yes. OK so. We have talked a little bit about how the arts can benefit people 's health very directly. Krys, you've become involved in the Montana Cardiovascular Health Program Learning Collaborative, which is perhaps an unexpected but very cool connection to make. Can you just talk about why arts fit well with a program that's trying to improve blood pressure? Might not seem like an obvious connection to some.
Krys Holmes
Yeah. There are. So many ways that art in all of its forms work on the body and the cardiovascular system and the nervous system and the brain. And this is where. Emerging research is really coming forth to help us learn more about that, and it's really an area that, as you know, I'm becoming pretty passionate about because I'm so curious. About it, but. Music and color and sound and. The organized expressive movement of dance. Are so deeply embedded in our nervous system and our cardiovascular system and the way our brain works. That we're finding that using creative and generative activities. And. Exposing ourselves to specific kinds of art forms. In a very intentional way, can really have a measurable effect on our health outcomes. I think we know this instinctively, but we are really developing now the science behind it and there are a lot of. Projects in practice right now across the country that I'm excited to bring to Montana or or concepts that I'm excited to bring to Montana to demonstrate for ourselves, especially in this cardiovascular. Area I see three ways of three major ways that the arts are helpful.
Krys Holmes
In our personal health and public health, and one that we have been talking about, the first way is just. Participation in creative and and generative projects and art forms is good for us personally and socially and psychologically, and we know that. Making music is really good for the nervous system. We know that singing together in a choir brings people together when we are breathing at the same time and singing the same words, our hearts begin to kind of beat together. Our cardiovascular systems begin to harmonize. One another and it creates the kinds of. Social bonds and psychological stability to withstand anxiety and isolation and other challenges of our daily life. The first this first layer is like. The psychosocial general well-being that art brings into our lives the second way that art can really. Assist in. Health on a medical and personal way is. In. Projects that intentionally bring art based therapies into a scenario to achieve a stated goal. For example, in cardiovascular units where they. Have been. A recovery area where people after cardiovascular heart surgery are recovering. They have found if they bring a musician in to play live. Classical music three times a day. It improves their outcome and they go home earlier they recover faster. Outcomes are much better. Than the control group that doesn't have this. An added bonus is that it also makes the rest of the family and the caregivers feel better as well. So that's just one example of this second category where you can bring. Art forms of various kinds as a therapeutic tool. Using perhaps music in Alzheimer's treatment or dance music. In treating Parkinson's disease, which has been a surprising and wonderful development, the third area is is one that we're just beginning to explore and that is the scientific. Of sound and color and. Other aesthetic forms as medical interventions, like the way they are discovering now, that sound waves can reorganize cellular structure. And there's an experiment now. See if you can. Use sound waves to retrain cancer cells to heal themselves or to change their behavior. There has been some work recently in using sound waves to break up viruses, so that's a kind of deeply scientific level that is a bit beyond beyond. Capacity of Montana Arts Council to bring into Montana, but there are so many levels that the arts can have an effect on the human body. Part of the reason is that the place in the brain that hears music and absorbs music into our nervous system is really deep in the brain, and it's very close to the. Language center and it also has a capacity to affect the entire nervous system of the body. It's not a very big synaptic leap when there is harmony and. Health and well-being going on in the music center, whether you're a musician or not. To create these synapses that that bring predictable rhythms and pleasing harmonies into the nervous system, for example. So in that second area of using using art as an actual therapy in PTSD. Alzheimer's, as I said, or Parkinson's or other kinds of. Especially with mental health and anxiety and depression and in a number of different scenarios, we're just finding a tremendous amount of potential there. And I find that really exciting.
Margaret Mullins
But that is exciting and I can't the range of topics that you have just described though, so beyond what most people. Great. Perceive as well stress can. Influence blood pressure and we know that that is true in bringing down your stress, but you have taken it and explored it in a lot more ways than that and helped us understand just how amazing art can can be and contribute to our cardiovascular health as well as. Things.
Krys Holmes
Yeah, one of my favorite quotes is from I. I was at a event in Washington, DC last January and the Surgeon General, Vivek Marti was there. And he said.
Margaret Mullins
Mute.
Krys Holmes
Music can change a person 's mood within just a few minutes, he says. I have been. Uh. I've been in medicine my entire career and I have never seen a pharMACeutical that can do that. Just talking about the power of this unused tool that we are not have not spent a lot of time and money focusing on how we can, how we can use it and the. They're beautiful. Thing about it is there are musicians in every community, there are artists. In all kinds of creative forms, there are creative people in every community, no matter how rural and. So I think these tools are readily available to us. Just not really sure how to. Apply them yet and how to really use the arts to to achieve the goals that we are after? It's not just about feeling good, but what are the goals that we are trying to achieve? And and how can we best? Use existing research and existing examples to do this in a really skilled and effective way, and that's the kind of question that I want to bring to the cardiovascular learning lab. What are your goals? How can we? Figure out a way to see what others are doing across the country and bring those skills into Montana and. Make some difference in some people 's lives and in a great way in an important way.
Margaret Mullins
Absolutely. So much untapped potential there. And we're always looking for new ways and creative ways. To to reach people and to improve not just outcomes from cardiovascular health, but but many different chronic diseases in fact.
Krys Holmes
Yeah, I think we tend to see the arts as entertainment or the reward. All the work is done. Or sort of the luxury. That if if you can if. Can afford it? We will support the. You know, they're kind of seen as this cherry on top. But art is so. So central to human existence and human communities, it's our first language. We learn to hum and we can match human. Human babies can match tones before they learn before they can learn how to speak. The human species made art long before it made language and. To sort of relegate this really incredible part of life to sort of a dessert table of. Our our society. Our existence is really to leave a huge power. On the table and not use it when we are so in need of what the arts have to offer.
Trina Filan
Krys, that's an exceptional way to lead into. The Creative aging project that Monica helped bring to several locations throughout the state. And so Monica, would you? Tell tell us about this specific project. You know the purpose. The participants where it happened, what transpired and. I think there's a connection to the libraries as well, so if you could just tell us all about it, that would be amazing.
Monica Grable
The Montana Arts Council is still relatively new to creative aging work. Haven't had. A lot of opportunity to focus our attention on on this category of work. It's been. You know, such a special opportunity for. Us through a couple different grant funded. The first came to us from the National Assembly of State Arts agencies several years ago, and we convened. A group of. Advisors and had lots of deep conversations and engaged in some research, but until last year we hadn't been able to put that work into practice. And along came a grant funded opportunity through lifetime Arts, which is the national leader really in training teaching artists. In this work, we were invited to take part in their grant funded initiative. And they really kind of led the way in helping us build this partnership. The Montana State. The you know impetus behind it really, is that it is was a project centered on rural states, Western rural states in particular. You know, the understanding that we have this, you know, incredible vast swaths of land. First of all. I mean, it's not just that we have these many small rural communities, but there there's great distance between them in in some cases. And so they asked both the Montana State Library and us if we would like to partner together. To bring some seed programs to small rural locations across Montana utilizing. The rural libraries, which probably don't need to tell you in some communities, are the only community hub, and that library might also be connected to the post office. I mean that is the way that. Many rural communities function where their community hub is that one important place, that one place is the library. So it made perfect sense that we would. Use the the spaces that the library had available. Everyone probably knows that many of our libraries. Have a community room. It may be in their basement, etc. Those community rooms are used for a variety of. So that was the venue or the classroom chosen for these programs. Then we went to work finding teaching artists who. Were maybe not even well versed in creative aging work yet, but had an interest in trying their hand at working with older adults. So we had programs take place in. Forsyth Haver, Glasgow and Eureka and in those locations we held classes in photography which gave participants a chance to really explore their own surroundings. And kind of take a unique view or lens, pardon the pun. On the communities they lived in, and we also had a clay class happening in Forsyth. We had writing classes that took place in Haver and. Costco and however it was a chance for older adults to work on Prostyle poetry and in Glasgow it was a class centered on mostly memoir writing. And then in Eureka, there was a fifth class that took place that was kind of a survey class exploring fiber arts. Every time they met, they were maybe learning a new technique and then. Combining those techniques in interesting ways toward the. So those were the five classes that that took place through our library partners.
Trina Filan
Cheap. That's incredible to get all of that going.
Speaker
In.
Trina Filan
What happened? How did the how did the participants enjoy it? The artists enjoy it. What did the libraries have to? And I think you had a convening afterwards, correct? Yes, what transpired from that?
Monica Grable
Yeah, well, first, I'll answer the question about what happened during the classes. It was not at all surprising that even from the outset, the response to those classes happening was. Welcomed. It would be a light way of saying it, but there were many individuals in these communities that were absolutely overjoyed that they were going to have the opportunity to do something that they, you know, hope to engage in for a long time. Such as classes and clay, which is always popular no matter the age, no matter the learner. Clay in and of itself is so therapeutic. Medium. When I approached the teaching artist who led that class, I asked her to think about what would be her medium of choice, and she immediately went to Clay. So at the outset, just the interest in the classes was was amazing. But as participants came together. They not only benefited from the great learning that took. During the classes. The sense of achievement that they felt in making. Something. And then all of these classes we were more centered on visual arts versus performing arts due to the spaces that those classes were taking place in, not for any other reason we weren't intending to leave out. Music classes or dance classes, but the the space is sort of dictated the focus. But in each case, we had a goal of filling the class with ten to twelve. Twelve participants and in the writing classes, we had fewer participants, which may tell us something in the future about the comfort level. With those medium, but at any rate, the older adults who came together week after week enjoyed learning with their peers, having conversations about their work. And one thing I haven't touched on yet is at the end of each of these classes, which each took place over six, and in the case of the Eureka class, that was an eight week series of workshops. But all the others were at least six weeks and at. End. Of their series of workshops, a really primary component of creative aging work is to have a culminating activity. In each case, they held. An exhibit there was sort of an opening where they could invite other community members, family, friends. To attend and I'll just give you one example, but the response to that opportunity to see what the older adults had created was particularly heartening to see. Those older adults engaged in in ways that maybe the rest of their community had. Seen them. Engaged in. So in Glasgow there was a reading. This was the memoir class. And they used a newly refurbished gazebo in the town park. And I think thirty people came out to hear from the I believe it was seven participants in that group. And they have, although that class has now ended, they have on their own initiated continuing with their teaching artists in doing another round of of workshops in in that category. So that's very telling. I think that the own participants are. Keep the opportunity going. The response from the library directors was also, on the one hand, very expected. You know, they they understood from the get go that their communities needed access. These learning opportunities. But. Were especially heartened to see it take place and to hear from the participants who all you know, indicated that they. Felt not only a great sense of achievement in what they had learned and what they had created through those classes, but also a sense of community. You know, sometimes there are older adults that, say, move to a community to be closer to their children. And they don't yet know their fellow community members, and likewise some of the teaching artists did not know. These particular community members as well, so there's. Big fourteen of friendship and community building that. Is part and parcel of this work. You know, if you look at any list of sort of best practices in creative aging, they include all the things I mentioned, the regularity of the classes, the chances to be social. You know, so. So sometimes the hour and a half workshop was paired with everyone bringing lunch to share. Let's say so. You know all of those best practices then lead to, you know, what is really. Considered to be about half of the points of these classes, one half being the gaining of knowledge and the mastery around. An art form. The other half is the social component which you know Krys already discussed as so important to our overall well-being our mental health. You know the chance to forge friendships, but also. To just feel that there is a place in the community for them to be outside of their homes is so. So so important. And that you know that age range of older adults over sixty, we say in Montana, that's a wide span. So there's also a lot of, I think, appreciation for each other. When the maybe older adults you know in their eighties and and so on are sharing with. Those who are maybe newly retired in their sixties and and having an opportunity to tell their stories and share their own knowledge gained as members of of the community who are so valuable. In what they have to offer their fellow community members.
Trina Filan
Did you want to add something, Krys? I do one.
Krys Holmes
Really important part of that is there is a a difference between an artist and a teaching artist. And that skill of being able to. A good teacher. In your. Form is also something. That we at the Arts Council are working to develop gathering people together in one. Talk about the teaching artist community that we are helping build and different communities across Montana are also doing this work. To bring more teaching artists into the fields.
Monica Grable
I'm so glad you brought this up, Krys. I am very happy to talk about. A focus at the Montana Arts Council. That is. A part of building our creative aging work, which is that we soon realized.
Speaker
That.
Monica Grable
Professional teaching artists, who tend to be artists who studied art but maybe did not necessarily, although some of them have did not necessarily follow a path of being becoming certified. Teachers in the K twelve environment and yet they have so much to offer. Learners, their depth of knowledge and we have many professional teaching artists working across the state who are not necessarily in community with each other. So building a community of practice where they can come together online, share their ideas, share their work, their success stories, their goals, and in some cases work to partner with each other in future collaborations, which has been a great outgrowth. And then also from my perspective, to have this sort of go to group? Of professionals that I could provide opportunities to, such as in May of this year, we offered a teaching artist training that we held. In Livingston at the Shane Center and we brought teaching artists from all over the state to the shame to learn from lifetime arts leaders. In training on best practices. Toward creative aging work, which for many of the teaching artists in the room. Was was a new field of work for them. And this is important for not only providing the opportunities. For hosts of creative aging workshops to then have teaching artists you know, trained, well versed, and ready to. Lead those classes. But also from our perspective you know. Providing. Another avenue. Of income for teaching. Sort of diversifying what they're able to to do as their as their work was another important component and many of our teaching artists. Were just sort of eating it up just so happy for the opportunity themselves to be learners in a new field of study. Was like I said, not known to them necessarily. Fairly.
Margaret Mullins
Monica. So I heard about something called artists in schools and communities. Aisc. Is that what you're talking?
Monica Grable
About that grant program that exists at the Montana Arts Council is available. To organizations across the state, they do not necessarily have to be arts organizations. It is the case that we have. Some libraries, for instance. Creating. Requests through that grant program. To be able to offer creative aging experiences. So that grant program really provides the opportunity for any age and ability of learner. And we work to help partner teaching artists with those requests when asked. You know, sometimes the request is written with an intended teaching artist in mind. They've already forged a partnership and begun to talk about what they would like to offer, but in some cases. If the organization that comes to us saying that they would like to offer something and do we have any ideas? So again, it's really important to have this community of teaching artists that I can draw upon and say with assurance that they are prepared to conduct those workshops. In in those community settings. But what's so great about that grant program is that it's not only for every age and ability of learner, but it's also in. The widest variety of settings you can. I think we pride ourselves in Montana and doing things maybe a little bit differently and so. You know an activity is taking place at a local sort of, you know, pub restaurant, you Know, Brew pub, kind of setting. That doesn't seem all out of the ordinary to to us. Going to use the spaces that that we have access to. And every organization, every nonprofit organization, whether Arts. Based or not is able to access that grant program and bring Community programming in using those funds. And we have two versions of that grant program, a smaller one. Called a ISE experiences. Which is up to twenty five hundred dollars. Those grants are. Particularly helpful in launching a creative aging workshop of some type, because it's just about the right amount of money to to fund a teaching artist. A professional teaching artist, leading a series of six to eight workshops. And can cover their travel as needed to make that happen, as well as some supplies so that smaller of our artists in schools and communities grant the aisle experiences is really key. To advancing these kinds of programs and then we have a larger one. Is more in depth. Takes place over a longer period of time. Called Aise residences, and that's more traditional sort of always hands on learning, etc. But tends to be utilized by organizations providing program throughout. A year in many. So one example of how those funds have been used is. At Saint. John 's united. In in Billings, where there are older adults living in a variety of settings, they held a Latin rhythms class with John Roberts from MSU Billings leading the way and how cool. You know, for us to be able to see the the outcomes from a project like that in the pictures of older adults drumming. And for instance. And you know, so there have been many cool. You know important examples of the way that that grant program can be used to advance these types of classes.
Krys Holmes
I think one of the everything that you're saying kind of underlines one of the major messages that I am trying to get out there right now that. All artists are entrepreneurs, and all of these organizations are very fertile, varied. Arts scene in Montana could not exist without the arts and culture nonprofits that are spread across the state to support all this work and every single one of those nonprofits is a small, locally controlled business. Ninety percent of their revenue stays in the community and circulates in the community. And to see artists and the arts as sort of extraneous to this work or to small business development or to economic vitality of the state, is just missing out on so much. These arts and culture nonprofits and these artists who are.
Speaker
Are.
Krys Holmes
Looking for different ways to diversify their income and looking for ways to share their skills that they have studied. And applied themselves, you know for years to develop this kind of professionalism. These are the innovators and the creators and the entrepreneurs of our communities, and we need to see them as. The real workers that they are, culture, work and arts work is real work and it has a huge impact on our economy, has a huge impact on our communities and in all these ways that Monica 's talking about it has a huge impact on our well-being. As. So that's kind of my soapbox box.
Monica Grable
I also want to make sure to add in our current fiscal year. We are also aiming to repeat the successes of the seed programs that we held at rural libraries. By also seeding programs taking place at our arts partner organizations, I like to call them because we do really rely on these arts organizations across the state to. Us do our work. You know, I am not able to be in communities across the state leading classes of course. So we rely on our arts partners and and we thought that a good pair. Sort of showcasing the ways that creative aging programs can take place in small rural places, using venues such as the library as the home base to also showcase. What creative aging programs might look like when they are held in our art, organizational spaces, museums, etc. So we. Working toward seeding a handful of those programs in the. Bling of twenty twenty five and all of these will be available and showcased on our website eventually, so that we we have these these good sort of summary takeaways from each of those projects and also visual examples. Of what it quite literally looked like when those programs took place.
Trina Filan
All of this is. It makes me very excited. I like to think about the way we can connect different organizations, different skill sets to, umm, create well-being opportunities for health, umm, amplifying the good things that exist in all our communities. We have so many. Assets that many people may not notice because. They're engaged in their regular day-to-day lives. Right. But but every place has opportunity. Every place has. A network that can. Be creatively used and engaged to make places better. One of the things that I'm really interested in. I have a bigger question, but I'm going to insert something that I learned about yesterday. So. It sounds like arts. They're adaptable to any place. And any people, a group, an individual, they're ubiquitous and everybody has within them the capacity to be creative and artistic. And to learn and grow through creativity.
Margaret Mullins
So.
Trina Filan
Are there? Ways to bring arts practices and the benefits of reducing stress and reducing isolation and and helping people be less lonely. To places where there's congregate living. Like senior living facilities or assisted living facilities, maybe veterans homes. So that's one. Part congregate scenarios or two populations that have. Maybe a greater health risks. Can we help? Bring arts to populations living with intellectual and mobility disabilities. Arts be brought. Used in those scenarios and with those populations one question. Big question. And then also. Yesterday I heard a really great presentation about cogenerational creativity. So bringing together older people and younger people and breaking down generational divides. To amplify well-being for everybody and help each of those groups see. The good and the possible in each other. That's the second part. Are there opportunities for intergenerational cogenerational art?
Krys Holmes
I would say that cogenerational creativity is something that has happened throughout human history until probably the last fifty years. It is very unnatural. To live in a society that doesn't just automatically do that all the time as part of everyday living in. The early nineteen hundreds ninety percent of households had a piano. So now you've seen in the last twenty years how impossible it is to get rid of Grandma 's piano, because everybody 's getting rid of Grandma 's piano because nobody knows how to play anymore and we no longer consider it a natural form of after dinner entertainment to. Around the piano and sing singing. Tongs. But you know a hundred years ago, people did that as a matter of course. Had built in bees and knitting circles and all kinds of ways. To get ourselves through the tedium of the day, or the struggles, or the trauma, or the anxiety of the day by, you know, peeling potatoes and telling stories or singing songs. Or. You know all of the all of the music that has come out of the labor. Traditions in all kinds of scenarios. Odd and kind of baffling that we don't do this as human beings, and so any opportunity to get people together of different ages and, you know, sing or drum or play music or make something together or. Build something together for some kind of generative activity is. Not only possible, but so deeply rewarding to everyone who participates, even though I think now, because we are so personally unused to it, our first. Response to those opportunities is, Oh yeah, that sounds cool, but I'm not sure. Want to go? That is our human heritage to to engage in those kinds of activities as whole families and whole towns and whole communities. And I think losing that is a big part of why we are so divided as. A society and as a world today. Kind of drawing on that theme of art being our original language, there are. So many opportunities to bring art into different scenarios and different settings, particularly with people who are struggling with or experiencing or or are have gathered together in a community around. Disabilities or differing neurological conditions. Art is just a way of expressing ourselves and. It's so native to all of us. That. In any scenario, you know, bringing people together with whatever their common commonalities are. To use art. And participate in art together in a trusting. Environment that creates joy it it creates new brain synapses, it develops new techniques, develops new ways to maybe get around disabilities that we are dealing with. In. Format one of the things that. Kind of excites. They have found that in groups of. Children on the autism spectrum who are. Not open to disorganized sound or who are made anxious by a lot of unpredictable sounds and who have trouble making social connections. Introducing them to a drumming circle where the sound is predictable and rhythmic and. Really appeals to the human nervous system. Also creates a sense of relationship and social safety with one another, because we are all participating in this inner, inner, predictable, percussive way that that I participate in as much as my neighbor participates in. That exposure that that kind of project has has shown to be really fruitful. I think there are. In my mind, no scenarios where art and creativity are inappropriate, and then we'll get around to the medical. The medical part of your question, because that's a whole new open door.
Monica Grable
I'm really glad that you brought up this idea of cogenerational learning because. Since our first experiences delving into this field of work of creative aging, it has been a topic of discussion. When we had our initial advisory group all the way through the recent teaching artist training. Along with the participants themselves in the classes, everyone across that spectrum are really anxious for opportunities for cogenerational learning. And in fact, one of the training sessions that we intend to host this year for our teaching artist community of practice. Is specifically on that topic of leading cogenerational workshops in the arts, so. Stay tuned for more. On that, but just know that there is a whole lot of interest and it is considered a a category of creative aging work. Along with that there are other sub categories such as working with persons with dementia. That are going to be learning opportunities for our teaching artists to further their their knowledge in working with different populations. As I said at the at the beginning of our conversation, the primary focus of creative aging work is simply. To offer robust sequential arts learning opportunities for older adults. So these other categories of work within creative aging are really sort of sub categories of study for the teaching artist, who would then lead those experiences where they can deepen their knowledge. In those categories and the other thing I wanted to mention, along with all of that is from the get go, one of the most exciting things I think from the Montana Arts Council perspective of engaging in this. They've created aging. Is that the intersectionality of it? All right, so. You know, we are a state with a very high veterans population. Some of those veterans are also older adults. We of course, have persons with disabilities living in our communities all over the state. And some of those are also older adults, so trying to create programs where that intersectionality is honored. Is a really important factor as well, and I think part one of your question, Trina, was that can these programs be brought into different kinds of living spaces? And the answer is absolutely yes. Thankfully, most arts are portable. And the teaching artists are also highly portable. One of the. Advantages of being a teaching artist is that you can craft this life where your sort of freelancing and you know, building a career made-up of working with different populations in different communities. In many different spaces, so I've been approached by the VA here in in Helena about their efforts going forward. Again, many of our arts organizations. Our arts assets, as I like to call them across the state, are very interested in hosting. But they are equally interested in sending their staff and their teaching artists out into these different spaces to make sure that the arts are absolutely accessible. We should never assume. That you know every learner can get themselves to another space and in many cases it's necessary that we bring the arts to them in order for them. Have that access.
Margaret Mullins
I am really hearing the part about meeting people where they're. We have a lot of that conversation over here when we discuss how to bring different programs and options to people in all of our rural communities. And recognizing that not all the rural communities are by any means the same, so they may be rural, but each of those rural spaces is unique in its own way, not to mention all those different sorts of facilities and community living spaces. So you really kind of hit the nail on the head with that. I think that that's a really important aspect of of getting the messaging out there and bringing bringing more arts to the people. I want to take one moment and return to the creative topic. I wanted to ask you about recruitment. Interested to know how you chose the libraries you chose to do these. This programming and also how you recruited people to participate.
Monica Grable
Oh, that's such a great question. Stop at the Montana State Library. Had particular library directors. In mind, so it was more about initially anyway. A. We knew we wanted to go with the very rural libraries, but after that you know it was the staff at the state library that had initial relationships forming with. The library directors in which they already had a sense that they were interested in this work. Maybe not even knowing the term creative aging, but knowing that those library directors were interested in using their spaces to the advantage of the community. At one point we thought we would only have the opportunity. To do four seed programs, and when we realized that we could engage a fifth community in this work, we pinpointed foresight. I think it was at that at that time. And in both cases. Both on our end in terms of finding. And the library director there, it was a new idea that maybe had never been offered to them before, and it was one of our great success stories.
Margaret Mullins
I'm wondering if there's anything else that you'd like for people to know as we wrap up this great conversation.
Krys Holmes
One thing I want to share with you in particular because I know in addition to cardiovascular, you're already also looking at diabetes. Outcomes in, especially in rural areas. In doing some. Research have come across some studies that show. Engagement in arts activities can reduce the risk of type two diabetes and can also positively address. The depression related to a diabetes diagnosis and can reduce blood glucose levels. I'm really excited about how can we delve into that and bring those kind of. Measurable outcomes into some of our communities that are really struggling with type two diabetes. So I'm collecting examples of the research that has been done and I'm sending it to you because. I'd be really excited. To launch a project to see how we can. Make this happen. In at least one or two communities in a meaningful way. I think there are other examples of. How art and music, both visual art and music, can also help with cardiovascular outcomes, specifically because this is the collaboration that we have built. I also. Am. Concerned with and thinking about ways to work with our teaching artists and work with the artists that we have across the state to develop our capacity to supply that kind of. Therapy on the artistic side.
Trina Filan
Wondering how someone can get involved in becoming. Teaching artist. What are the credentials that they need to have?
Monica Grable
So. We're looking for at the Montana Arts Council is first of all, an artist who is very interested in developing their teaching skills alongside their arts practice and ultimately. Someone who either has the experience of already. Done them. Or, you know, is open to taking part in the support systems that can help them get there, including but not at all limited to our teaching artist. Of. So this is a national field of work. Being a teaching artist and there are also national support systems such as the Teaching Artist Guild. That have supported the work of teaching artists.
Margaret Mullins
Sounds like a a healthy combination of experience and passion.
Krys Holmes
Yeah. And I would just add to that that in the indigenous and folk and traditional arts, there are also. So people who maybe did not get a degree because that's not how those art firms are passed down, but who are embedded in that particular culture or art form or traditional art. Who are also really, really great teachers and mentors in the fields that.
Speaker
You.
Krys Holmes
Know traditionally have been handed down. Person to person. So so aside from the degree and the certifications and all of that that supports the field professional level, there's also this. These professional program, traditional and indigenous artists who are pretty amazing and have a lot to teach and share and. Whose work is in some cases in danger of being lost if it's not passed on. We also through our. Folk in traditional arts program at the Arts Council. Also are working to maintain those. Traditions.
Monica Grable
I will also add to that great. Interjection of information. That when we have talked about the cogenerational learning always at the top of the list are the elders in our indigenous communities sharing their knowledge with the next generation in that sort of mentorship capacity. So it's it's a a really important aspect of even that subcategory. Creative aging work. Is focus on that focus traditional arts knowledge being passed on? Just want to add the thought related to the therapeutic benefits, both physical and mental, that Krys has talked about so well today. But if. Just stop and think for a moment about. The ways in which the arts are embedded and woven through our life experience throughout our lives. We we intentionally put them in. Events. That are important life events such as weddings. Funerals, etc. We all have that experience of hearing a piece of music that brings back so much memory, so it should be of no surprise really, that. The music, in particular with persons in memory care facilities, the use of music has been so important to their health and well-being, and their care, and there are so many great stories through all the research. Of you know, older adults who maybe have not even spoken a word in a year or two, who hear a song from their youth, from their their teenage years, maybe, and suddenly, much to the surprise of their family members, they are singing along. Word for word. You know those arts experiences of just being in the vicinity of arts, let alone learning about the arts, is just embedded in who we are. As human beings, and so a great example of how the arts can lead the way toward healing.
Trina Filan
If there is an artist or teaching artist, anybody, a folk artist, an indigenous artist who is interested in any of these programs, how can they outreach you?
Krys Holmes
To.
Trina Filan
Get more information.
Monica Grable
Our Montana Arts Council mainline phone number is four, oh, six. Four, six, four, three, zero. If you call that line, you will get one member of the staff, and if that person isn't. The most well versed in the particular topic of choice they will connect you. To the staff member.
Margaret Mullins
Who is? Well? Listen, we have covered such an array of excellent topics today. You know, talking about individual and community health and how it impacts our, you know, our everyday lives and how art is in every place in our community. The rural and urban it's it's just been so. So I just want to thank you so much, Krys and Monica for being with us. I want to thank you on behalf of Trina and myself and the crew that's behind the. Thank you also to our guests who are most passionate about arts and health. If you'd like more information on what was discussed today, visit our website at talking health and the four oh six dot NT dot Gov. Where there will be the links to the information discussed.
Speaker
And.
Margaret Mullins
If you haven't already, Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe to our podcast, and until next time. Healthy be well and create art.