The case studies in this book all deal with Hispanic design in the necessary context of la comunidad. They show how Hispanic communities have drawn on their rich cultural resources to preserve historic landmarks; create works of public art that instills pride while providing jobs and training; contribute to local economic development; and build housing that is as comfortable culturally as it is physically.

This handbook is based upon the experience of conducting a project funded by the U.S. Administration on Aging in which HAI provided 1,251 arts performances, lecture/demonstrations, and workshops to the impaired elderly in 33 nursing facilities in the New York City area from 1976 to 1979. Such a breadth of experience naturally yielded a good deal of knowledge about what works and what doesn't; the handbook is HAI's method for detailing this knowledge so others may design and implement the specific components of successful arts programs in nursing homes.

Dance therapy is a form of psychotherapy which uses movement to integrate an individual's body and emotions. It is used to treat affective, behavioral, learning, perceptual and physical disorders. Dance therapists work with people of all ages, in groups and with individuals. They are employed primarily as clinicians working in psychiatric hospitals, clinics, special schools and correctional facilities. They also have private practices and serve as consultants, researchers and teachers.

HAI programs have been widely praised and we have many anecdotal accounts of our effectiveness. For example, when HAI services in several methadone facilities were eliminated by funding delays, patients' drug usage rose sharply; when services resumed, drug usage declined. However, HAI has little hard data on such results. To begin to compile this data we have started an extensive computer search of the research literature in the field using five separate data banks: the Psychological Abstracts Information Service (PAIS), the Aging Research Information System, the Medical Literature and

In May 1976, the Rockefeller Foundation convened a meeting to consider the roles of the arts in healing and therapeutic environments. It was an exploratory session, initiated by correspondence between myself and Michael Spencer who, as Executive Director of Hospital Audiences, was urging the Foundation to take an active, funding part in the promotion of the performing arts in hospitals and prisons.

Since 1969, Hospital Audiences, Inc. has made the arts available to people in hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, drug treatment and prevention programs, and in other health and social service settings. We have brought over 500,000 people to almost 10,000 cultural events, ranging from Vladimir Horowitz to Ray Charles, from the Royal Ballet to Cabaret. For another 500,000 people who were unable to leave their institutions for medical, legal, or logistical reasons, HAI has (imported) 3,000 performing arts events. These programs have included the cast of Hair, Big Bird, the Royal Shakespeare

Music therapy is much more than passively listening to music. The patient is actively involved with music under the direction of qualified personnel. The activity is planned by therapists and doctors (or other clinicians), who write out a prescription with specific therapeutic goals, defining both the disability and the desired response.

Though current psychiatry tends to promote short term care and a heavy use of drugs, we work with long term patients and deemphasize drugs. Our approach is Jungian. It uses the arts and media to tap the healing potential of the collective unconscious. This treatment is called synesthetic therapy - a term used by McLuhan and Youngblood to describe the effects of television. We encourage patients to produce abstract paintings which reflect feelings, hallucinations and dreams. We then use color television to study the patients' artwork and, through weekly films and discussions, try to help the

In 1975, the National Council on the Aging (NCOA) published a study, The Myth and Reality of Aging in America, by Louis Harris and Associates. They found that older Americans used cultural, recreational, and intellectual resources significantly less than the young or middle-aged. (this response reflects people's education and income; also the accessibility and content of the program). Yet, in contrast to the popular view that old people are warm and experienced but sedentary and unable to learn new skills, the NCOA-Harris study found that most older people have the desire and potential to

The conference also highlighted the fact that older Americans are an important new constituency for expanding arts programs, as audiences, as contributors of time, skills, knowledge and other resources, and as students, teachers, and creators. More than 200 arts and aging leaders from thirty-one states, the District of Columbia and Canada participated.