Browse “Academic Institutions”

Kean University Orchestra: Free For the Community

The Kean University Orchestra offers a unique and inclusive opportunity for community members to make music together. Our musicians range in age from high school students to individuals in their 80s, creating a rich and diverse ensemble. The orchestra is led by Music Director and Conductor Warren Cohen, whose extensive experience with multi-skill-level groups ensures that everyone can participate meaningfully. He specializes in adapting music to accommodate varying abilities, encouraging musicians to play at their current level while striving toward their goals.

Orchestra Manager Michelle Tolentino, who also plays oboe in the group, brings her expertise as an occupational therapist, focusing on adaptations, group dynamics, and accommodations to enhance the experience for all members.

Thanks to Kean University’s generosity, participation is completely free, making this orchestra an accessible and rewarding opportunity for anyone who loves playing music in a collaborative setting.

Instruments: violin, viola, cello, double bass

Union, NJ.

Email Michelle Tolentino: mitolent@kean.edu or visit kean.edu/orchestra

Reflections Program at Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

For individuals living with Alzheimer’s and their care partners, it can be challenging to find inclusive, understanding environments that support joy, connection, and learning. This video highlights Reflections, a program offered through a partnership between the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and the Duke Family Support Program. Together, they create affirming, judgment-free spaces where participants can explore art, build community, and feel truly seen. To illustrate the program’s impact, the video follows two participant-caregiver pairs as they engage with the program, offering a glimpse into its emotional impact and the meaningful relationships that grow from shared creative experiences.

Wisconsin Memory Café Programs: A Best Practice Guide

This concise comprehensive guide offers a detailed framework for creating and operating Memory Cafés — welcoming social spaces designed to support individuals living with memory loss and their caregivers. Covering everything from foundational vision and terminology to practical considerations such as location, funding, marketing, and program design, the guide also addresses visitor engagement and program assessment. Beyond the cafés themselves, it explores opportunities for broader community impact and important considerations for sustainability.

Creating Healthy Communities Through Cross-sector Collaboration

From the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine Website:

The Creating Healthy Communities through Cross-sector Collaboration white paper presents the views of more than 250 thought leaders from the public health, arts and culture, and community development sectors who were convened in working groups in 2018 and 2019. Their voices are joined by over 500 participants in a national field survey and focus groups, and are supported by findings of a scoping review of arts + public health literature.

With the public health sector as a primary intended audience, the Creating Healthy Communities through Cross-sector Collaboration white paper frames the value of the arts and culture for advancing health and well-being in communities. It offers examples and recommendations for expanding cross-sector collaboration and innovation, with the following goals:

  • Advance collaboration among those working at the intersections of art and culture, public health, and community development
  • Stimulate upstream interventions—aimed at systems, cultures, and policies—that reduce barriers to health and well-being
  • Assert the value of arts and culture for increasing health, wellbeing, and equity in communities
  • Foster transformative social change that advances health and wellbeing

This paper is also intended to offer value and guidance to community development, arts and culture, and other allied health sectors by providing examples of impactful cross-sector collaborations that engage arts and culture to address five critical public health issues: collective trauma, racism, social isolation and exclusion, mental health, and chronic disease. These concrete examples inform the paper’s recommendations and call to action, which assert the value of the arts and culture for community health transformation, and for advancing the culture of health being envisioned today.