Medicine, Arts and Culture Important Intersections for New Advisory Board Member

posted by: Cheryl McLean
Canadian Creative Arts in Health, Training and Education Journal

Journal Welcomes Dr. Michael Hutcheon to Advisory Board


The Canadian Creative Arts in Health, Training and Education Journal (CCAHTE) has recently announced that Dr. Michael Hutcheon has joined the journal Advisory Board. Dr. Michael Hutcheon is Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto and Deputy Physician-in-Chief for Education, The University Health Network. His research training in respirology was in pulmonary physiology and lung mechanics both at The University of Toronto and the Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Hutcheon is a physician who has explored the intersections of the arts and health. Opera in medical education is a particular interest. He reports, "I have explored the meanings taken on by illnesses and the people who have them when medical information is interpreted in a social or cultural context. We have used opera as the cultural vehicle for this exploration. This has been my primary research interest for the past ten years."

Michael Hutcheon and collaborator Linda Hutcheon, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Toronto, have published a number of articles and three books. Their work on the cultural construction of sexuality, gender and disease in opera has been published in a book entitled Opera: Desire, Disease, Death (1996). Their second book, a study of both the real and the represented operatic body entitled Bodily Charm: Living Opera, was published in 2000. They have also published articles in this area in journals such as The Cambridge Opera Journal, Opera Quarterly, and the University of Toronto Quarterly. Their latest collaborative book called Opera: The Art of Dying, was published by Harvard University Press in 2004. They are currently studying creativity and aging through the late style and later lives of nineteenth and twentieth century opera composers.

"Few art forms are as thoroughly dependent as is tragic opera upon desire, suffering and death as narrative and emotional staples. The body, the live singing body on stage, gives voice to the drama of the suffering person."
Michael Hutcheon, Linda Hutcheon

Read more here

Oliver Sacks Quote and Music Therapy Video

Quotes of note

"(I sense) a certain doubleness in me: that I feel myself a naturalist and a physician both; and that I am equally interested in diseases and people; perhaps, too, that I am equally, if inadequately, a theorist and a dramatist, am equally drawn to the scientific and the romantic, and continually see both in the human condition . . ."

-Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

In this video clip Oliver Sacks author of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" and "An Anthropologist on Mars" discusses the effect of music therapy on Parkinson's disease patients.

Front row seats at Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nnLTPPDRXI&feature=related

Stories of Sport, Disability, Rehabilitation, presentations by Brett Smith, Arthur Frank

Toronto Rehab and Toronto Rehabilitation Institute Research Department
and Spiritual Care Services

PRESENT

Dr. Brett Smith, PhD
Qualitative Research Unit
School of Sport and Health Sciences
University of Exeter

Dr. Brett Smith’s research interests revolve around the
psycho-social dimensions of spinal cord injury and
stories of disability. He is the co-editor of the journal
Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise, and has
published extensively in a variety of medical, psychology,
and sociology journals.

Encountering Chaos: Exploring Responses to
a Spinal Cord Injury Narrative

Monday, April 27, 2009

12:00 - 1:00pm
Class Room A and B
Lyndhurst Centre
520 Sutherland Drive, Toronto

When Bodies Need Narratives: The Case of Becoming
Disabled Through Sport

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

12:00 - 1:00pm
Lecture Theatre
University Centre
550 University Avenue, Toronto


Dr. Arthur W. Frank
Department of Sociology
University of Calgary

Arthur Frank is a Professor of Sociology at the University of
Calgary and during 2008-09 has been visiting Professor
in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at University
of Toronto. The core of his work is the study of illness
experience. His first book, At the Will of the Body, is the
story of his own illnesses and won the annual writers’
award from the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship
in the US. His second book, The Wounded Storyteller,
sets out a framework of illness narratives that has been
taken up by many researchers, including Brett Smith and
Andrew Sparkes. His most recent book, The Renewal of
Generosity, won the 2008 annual medal in bioethics from
the Royal Society of Canada. His current projects include
SSHRC-funded research on people’s use of information
and communications technology in doing health work,
and also a CIHR-funded project on moral distress among
workers in pediatric intensive care units.

Wounded Storytellers and Since: Lessons from the Last
Fifteen Years, Especially about Rehabilitation

Friday, April 24, 2009

12:00 - 1:00pm
Lecture Theatre
University Centre
550 University Avenue, Toronto

If you have any questions, please contact Jim Huth, Ethics and Spiritual Care at
416-597-3422, ext. 3716.Toronto Rehabilitation Institute

Poetry as Research, Conference PEI

Second Annual International Symposium on Poetic Inquiry

50 University Ave
Charlottetown Prince Edward Island

October 15, 2009 – October 18, 2009

This event is held by The Centre for Education Research, University of Prince Edward Island & Centre for Arts-informed Research, OISE/University of Toronto.

The 2nd Annual International Symposium on Poetic Inquiry will bring together international literary poets, artists, and poet/scholars from diverse contexts and interdisciplinary fields to explore Poetry as a Way of Knowing. We welcome proposals in a variety of creative presentation formats. Symposium events will take place in artistic venues such as art galleries, cafes, and studio theatres located within the Charlottetown community.

Conference Chairs: Suzanne Thomas & Ardra Cole

View Conference Details here

Student Seeks Entry Position Urban Community Planning, Culture, Arts and Health

We recently heard from subscriber and student, Monica Dikkes. We are publishing her letter below. Monica is a student in the Professional Planning Program at the University of Waterloo. She is very interested in urban and community planning as well as heritage and culture and the links between arts and health. We would like to support this student in her ongoing job search. If you have an opening or know of any possible job prospects for Monica we would be pleased to hear from you. CM


To whom it may concern:

I am currently a fourth year Honours student in The University of Waterloo's Professional Planning Program. I am interested in a full time entry level position. My last year of schooling is scheduled so that I can start work immediately. I have experience in CAD work but I would like, if possible, to broaden my background and follow up with valuable practical experience in my chosen area of study. I am interested in all aspects of urban and community planning, especially heritage and facilitating community wellness, food systems sustainability and planning, cultural management and the link between art and health.

I am motivated to combine my passions, experience and education and apply my skills and knowledge to meet and exceed expectations. Along with my initiative and ability to function efficiently in a fast-paced environment, I strive to uphold the integrity and standards of the company for which I am employed. I am highly focused on meeting deadlines ahead of schedule with a keen eye for detail. I enjoy prioritizing my schedule of duties and believe these skills will enable me to succeed in the realm of junior planning and management. I thrive in team oriented surroundings and am motivated where there is room to learn and share creative experiences.

I look forward to hearing from you to set up an interview to further discuss a possible position.

Monica Dikkes

Send inquires for this applicant email to ccahte@cmclean.com

Music Therapy, Juno Award Winning Songwriter and Music Therapist Offer Music for Rest and Stress Relief

David Bradstreet

posted by: Cheryl McLean
Canadian Creative Arts in Health, Training and Education Journal

I was pleased to hear recently from Juno award winning songwriter, musician and producer David Bradstreet, a multi-talented artist with a special interest in the intersections of the arts and health.

David is widely known as a composer, songwriter and vocalist with nineteen albums bearing his name, a high profile Juno award early in his career and subsequent Juno nominations and music credits including film and television scoring, and record production for a variety of artists from Jane Siberry to Colleen Peterson.

When you hear the name David Bradstreet you might remember his well known song "Renaissance" (Let's Dance that Old Dance Once More). I had an opportunity to hear David sing "Renaissance" at London Ontario's "Home County Folk Festival". If you've heard the song, you may feel it is like a waltz you have always known, stepping in time through life's passages as it moves, a song that recalls the lives of two people in love and their many years together.

In addition to songwriting, performing and producing music for film and television, David has
an interest in the power of music to heal and bring comfort to seniors. After working with the successful company "Solitudes", he began playing and recording music designed for therapeutic purposes to help address sleep deprivation and for stress relief and, working with associate *Amy Clements-Cortes, a music therapist at Baycrest Centre, David launched a new recording company called "Theramusic".

Relaxing music can help slow down heart rate, breathing, thinking and can enable a person to reach a deeper level of rest and tranquility. A study published in February 2005 in The Journal of Advanced Nursing found that listening to soft music at bedtime assisted older adults to sleep better and longer.

I have been listening to the two CDs "Therasleep" and "Theracalm" for the last few days while working and when journaling at night before I go to sleep. There may be an additional creative benefit to "Theramusic" as well. I have found the music helps gently release stress and tension and it has a "sustaining or "flow" quality that opens the mind for reflection and creative thought.

Congratulations to innovators David Bradstreet and Amy Clements-Cortes, for using music to heal while developing drug-free techniques to help enhance care and induce relaxation and sleep.

Go to Theramusic Website for More Information

*Amy Clements-Cortes is a graduate of the Honours Bachelor of Music Therapy Program at the University of Windsor with a voice major and a Masters in Music, University of Toronto. In addition to her research and therapeutic work Amy also runs her own vocal studio.
See http://www.notesbyamy.com/aboutamy.html for more information.