UF to expand Arts in Medicine to Nairobi, Kenya

June 20, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — AIM for Africa, a project sponsored by the University of Florida and Shands Healthcare, will establish the first-known formal arts in medicine program in Africa at the Mater Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya.

This exchange of artists and caregivers between United States and Kenya will provide underserved populations in both countries with a greater understanding of another culture as well as the framework for healthier lifestyles. Research has shown that the arts can enhance the physical and emotional health of patients and improve the medical experience for their families and caregivers.

The social and economic conditions in Africa, including the HIV/AIDS crisis, make this partnership more crucial than ever. African cultures are well-known for practicing and supporting the arts, but the arts are almost entirely absent from hospitals there — compared to the arts programs which are in more than half of the hospitals in the United States.

“It is a well-known fact that art, music and dancing form an integral part of African culture and heritage,” said Kennedy Ayoti, chief executive officer of Mater Hospital. “We are accustomed to singing and dancing to celebrate important moments in life that span through from birth to death. It is the way we express ourselves, and better still, the African way of life.”

Hospital representatives and artists from Kenya will visit the United States to receive training and conduct workshops and performances. Ayoti and Dr. Marian Dolan, medical director at Mater Hospital, traveled to Gainesville to meet with officials at UF and Shands Hospital in April. Suzzana Owiyo, a popular award-winning African artist, and Winnie Njenga, Mater Hospital administrator and newly appointed Arts in Medicine coordinator, will attend the Center for Arts in Healthcare Research and Education’s Arts in Healthcare Summer Intensive July 10 – 28, 2006.

Owiyo will present musical performances at area healthcare facilities in north central Florida and conduct a series of interactive workshops for patients, visitors and caregivers at Shands Hospital. Her seven-week residency will include a master class for School of Music students, classes for youth at the City of Gainesville’s City Centers and a workshop for women with and recovering from cancer.

“Suzzana Owiyo is an exciting African artist whose popular music is steeped in Kenyan musical tradition. Her work is based in social concerns, and through her time here, our students and regional communities will have the opportunity to learn not only about African popular music, but also about how the arts and artists can impact people at fundamental levels such as health,” said Jill Sonke-Henderson, co-director of Center for the Arts in Healthcare Research and Education.

Owiyo will continue her role as artist-in-residence upon returning to Nairobi where she will work at Mater Hospital throughout the next two years. During this time, she will train other artists to work in healthcare throughout East Africa and will implement AIM Together Africa, modeled on UF’s AIM for Africa program, which will bring international touring artists to perform at the Mater Hospital.

UF faculty and students will complete the exchange by traveling to Nairobi. Sonke-Henderson and David Acombo, a Shands Arts in Medicine musician and ethnomusicologist, will begin the implementation of the Mater Hospital’s AIM program by training and mentoring administrators and volunteer artists. In the next year, three groups of UF College of Medicine students will conduct medical mission trips to assist in medical care and facilitate arts programming at Mater Hospital.

“We are excited by the positive impact it will make on our patients who are, after all, our primary focus at Mater,” Ayoti said.

The ongoing and interdisciplinary partnership among the Center for the Arts in Healthcare Research and Education, Shands Arts in Medicine and Mater Hospital will bring together the leading arts and healthcare organizations in the U.S. and Africa, respectively.

AIM for Africa is sponsored by the College of Fine Arts Center for Arts in Healthcare Research and Education, Shands Arts in Medicine, State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, the Southern Arts Federation and Center for World Arts.