Arts Commission Invests in the Healthy Jackson County Coalition to Strengthen Jackson County through Arts and Creativity
The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) has awarded $4,000 to Healthy Jackson County for Arts for Youth through the Arts Project Support grant program.
During its June 14 Quarterly Business Meeting, the Commission approved funding recommendations for the Arts Project Support and Arts Organization Support grant programs. Between the two grant programs, 338 organizations in 77 Indiana counties are receiving funding.
“All across Indiana we have seen the positive impact that investing in arts and creativity has on quality of life,” said Anne Penny Valentine, Chair of the Indiana Arts Commission. “Each of the projects and organizations selected to receive funding are doing exceptional creative work in and for Hoosier communities. The Commission is excited and honored to support the work these organizations are doing to engage the public, develop their communities and encourage creativity across our state.”
“As a mother of five, including two teens, I’m personally aware of the mental health challenges our youth are facing today,” says Lindsay Sarver, Healthy Jackson County Coalition member and Schneck team member. “Statistics and experience have showed us that our teens are experiencing a mental health crisis at an unprecedented rate, and we have to act now. I am so honored and proud to work with such a talented team that is working to make a difference in the mental health of our youth, and using art to make these critical life skills accessible to teens.”
The Arts for Youth project is an ongoing collaboration with Indiana University’s Center for Rural Engagement and School of Social Work, as well as several Healthy Jackson County Coalition partner organizations, to create an art-based kit to support adolescent mental health in Jackson County. The Arts for Youth (A4Y) Book is available in Spanish and English, and is a designed therapeutic guidebook to improve well-being through arts-based exercises infused with social work, art, and play therapy practices, and other wellness resources. This project will expand access to evidence-based art therapy activities and tangible art supplies to middle school youth in Jackson County, Indiana and surrounding areas to address the youth mental health crisis.
The Arts for Youth Project will be available beginning September 26, after its launch celebration at the Mental Health Fest from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Crossroads Park in Seymour, Indiana. The Mental Health Fest is a free event to promote resources and positive mental health activities, and all are welcome to attend.
The Arts for Youth funding and the Mental Health Fest are made possible through generous funding from the Jackson County Health Department, Schneck Medical Center, Schneck Foundation, Dickson’s Publishing, the former Mental Health America Jackson County suicide prevention initiative, Jackson County Community Foundation, Indiana Department of Health, and the Indiana Arts Commission Project Support grant.
“Art and creativity foster connection and cohesion, support the entrepreneurial spirit communities need to thrive, and help build the kinds of communities where people want to live, work, play, study, and stay,” said Miah Michaelsen, Executive Director of the Indiana Arts Commission. “In every corner of the Hoosier state, public funding for arts and creativity continually proves to be a high-return investment that positively impacts the cultural, economic, and educational climate of Indiana. It is a privilege to support the organizations building stronger Indiana communities through arts and creativity.”
Funding for the Indiana Arts Commission and its programs is provided by the Indiana General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. View the full list of grants awarded at https://www.in.gov/arts/progra....