Art is not just for galleries. It belongs in mental health centers and medical schools and pharma labs.
That was Wednesday’s pitch from a banquet hall in Whippany, where Morris Arts announced a push into art therapy at its 16th annual Great Conversations fundraiser.
The plan is to partner with with other nonprofits to help people grappling with grief and addictions, among other things, said Morris Arts Executive Director Tom Werder.
“We’re perfectly situated to do this work,” Werder said.
One testimonial came from Patty Sly, who runs the P.G. Chambers School in Cedar Knolls for children with disabilities. She showed stop-motion animations made by children with help from artist Tracy Fox, whose residency is funded by a Morris Arts grant.
Slideshow photos by Kevin Coughlin; click/hover on images for captions:
Dominique Tornabe, in charge of fundraising for Morris Arts, touted the power of music. She recounted how a special song cut through her late grandfather’s dementia and spurred once last dance with Tornabe’s grandmother.
Pfizer’s global medical director, Graham Ferrier, even argued that art therapy can buy time for cancer patients and boost creative thinking for clinicians.
He said a 16-year British study suggested cancer patients who received art therapy survived three months longer, with less depression and a better quality of life, than those without such intervention. Art provides a safe space for patients to share their feelings, he said.
Ferrier also prescribed art training for scientists. Artists see the world differently, after all.
“The really good thinkers in science all think like artists,” Ferrier said.
“If we want to have really good medicine in the future, we need to be sure our next generation of scientists are trained like artists. We don’t want incremental growth. We want leaps.”
‘THE HUMAN MIND IS INFINITE’
Ferrier was among 25 featured “conversationalists” from the arts, business, media and science. Parked at separate tables inside the Birchwood Manor, they held forth over dinner with clusters of guests, about 250 people altogether, who paid up to $275 apiece for the privilege.
At his table, Dakshi Agrawal, an IBM Fellow specializing in A.I. research, fielded questions about artificial intelligence.
They were served rapid-fire by an environmentalist, a cannabis entrepreneur, a candy company executive, two people from the world of architecture and design, and three from finance.
Although the “godfather of A.I.,” Geoffrey Hinton, frets that artificial intelligence could outsmart its human creators, Agrawal was more sanguine.
“A faction in A.I. believes in Doomsday. I don’t share that,” the computer scientist said.
“The human mind is infinite,” infinitely more resourceful than chatbots, Agrawal insisted, over a hall of chatter, and clatter, from silverware attacking steaks, salmon and noodles.
Agrawal emigrated from India to pursue degrees at Washington University and the University of Illinois. He believes U.S. higher education will ensure America’s lead in A.I., and that our better angels will harness the technology for more good than harm.
“Good people have more resources than bad people,” he reasoned.
“It’s just like any other powerful technology. Policy makers need to be aware and create frameworks…for the betterment of their people. There will always be bad actors. But I believe the good actors will overwhelm the bad actors.”
AN OPEN GUITAR CASE
Werder said he anticipated Great Conversations would net about $100,000 for Morris Arts. The Morristown-based nonprofit relies on grants and sponsors for much of its $1.3 million budget, which supports art- and art education programs across northern New Jersey.
Creativity is key for survival. Morris Arts has forged alliances by hosting breakfasts for real estate movers and shakers, and by teaming with public officials on programs such as One Percent for Art. That one requires major Morristown developers to earmark a percentage of their projects’ cost for public art.
Investing in the arts pays dividends, Werder contends. In Morris County, he said, artistic endeavors amount to a $49 million industry, providing 1,000 full-time jobs and generating $2.6 million in government tax revenues.
But it remains a hard sell, said Morris Arts President Steve Aluotto.
“Our guitar case will always be open for support,” he told guests.
Continuing the art therapy theme, jazz singer Lynette Sheard will open for the New Jersey Symphony at the next big Morris Arts fundraiser, the annual Giralda Music and Arts Festival, on Saturday, June 22, 2024, at Giralda Farms in Madison. (Rain venue: Liquid Church in Parsippany.)
Sheard is a certified suicide prevention trainer, and director of the New Jersey Mental Health Players, an educational program of the Mental Health Association in New Jersey.
