Mapping of Initiatives on Culture, Health and Well-being

Project "Doctor Clown" is a non-profit project of the Ukrainian Charitable Foundation "Helping", aimed at regular assistance to children who are treated in medical institutions and promote recovery through laughter therapy, as well as reduce stress in children and their parents. The project used clowning therapy (humor, interaction and play), to reduce stress among the hospitalized children and their parents, and rise awareness of the need for more clowns volunteers into the hospital.

The project "Art therapy and play for children with severe health problems" was carried out between January 13, 2014 - July 13, 2014, with the support of ING BANK.
The M.A.M.E. Association aimed through this project to support 14 children with severe health problems by participating in art therapy and playful workshops (painting, drawing, reading, modeling, collage, music therapy sessions). The sessions were organized for children to be able to cope more easily with the situation, to develop their skills to deal with health problems, trauma caused by illness, pain and invasive treatments. Also, the art and creation workshops supported by psychotherapists, volunteers of the association, were excellent means of stimulating creativity and a guarantor of mental health. The activities included in the project were carried out at the headquarters of the M.A.M.E. Association and for children whose state of health does not allow them to move, were carried out at their home, with the consent of the parent.

The Beyond Words project: performing arts and inclusion for deaf children is a continuation of the Solidart Association's efforts to stimulate the inclusion of invisible communities through performing arts, to bring culture closer to those who do not have access to it, and to makes theater accessible to all. The project aims to include children with hearing impairments in the community through performing arts and 20 children with hearing impairments to directly involved in the performing arts show, as actors.
At the same time, the Solidart team will organize a training course, supported by the National Association of Authorized Interpreters in Sign Language, for 10 teachers, who will become models for several generations of students.

The Art Moment project implemented by Elite Art Gallery proposes art therapy sessions. The purpose of the art therapy sessions is to give people the opportunity to express themselves through art, to experience well-being, detachment and stress relief. Thus, the artistic experience arouses interest in novelty, color and spontaneity, which anchors self-confidence and self-knowledge. Elite Art Gallery is providing a welcoming space, an atmosphere of great creative force, special materials and music to support the art therapy sessions.

The project is developed by the AVATAR Association and financed by the “For Well-being” program, supported by Kaufland Romania and implemented by the Foundation for the Civil Society Development. The “4 Senses” project aims to facilitate access to cultural services in the field of performing arts for 210 children and young people with hearing and speech impairments. For 6 months, between September 2021 and March 2022, children and young people with hearing or speech impairments will be actively involved in workshops designed to develop their abilities to perceive and integrate vibrations in the form of rhythms.

The "Superheroes" project responds to several types of needs: representing children with disabilities in Romanian literature, supplementing the number of books adapted to accessibility standards for people with disabilities, developing participatory projects in which children with disabilities actively participate in the artistic product, by co-participation of children with disabilities in activities with typical children. The "Superheroes" project involves the participation to a series of workshops, for 5 weeks, of 5 children with neurocognitive and motor disabilities. The results of the workshops became sources of inspiration in creating a book for children, young people and adults, with stories that have a focus on the people with disabilities and their needs. The book produced within the project is focused on the life experiences of children with special educational needs.

The Urban Art Caravan project is a continuation of a pilot project implemented by the Artipic Association. The project involves 300 children and young people from vulnerable rural areas who participated, for 6 months, in civic involvement workshops, drawing workshops, street dance, juggling, photo-video, music, and at the end of the project they exhibited their works and performed talent shows in public artistic events organized in the communities they belong to.

The Concrete Rockers Association (2017) had the vision to create a sustainable Hip Hop cultural centre. From July 2021 to February 2022, the Concrete Rockers Association carried out the Ghetto Flowers project, through which 20 teens from a orphanage were integrated into the local hip-hop art community and gained new skills through direct participation to artistic activities and workshops focused on music and DJ- ing, dance and drawing, for a period of 7 months. On this occasion, the members of the association created awareness on some of the challenges these young people are facing. These include emotional deprivation and lack of social support, which over time lead to corrosive emotional problems and reduce the ability of young people in the institutionalized environment to cope with the challenges they face.

The "Northern Creative Workshops" initiative aims to involve 150 children at risk in creative workshops in the fields of visual arts, performing arts, creative writing, heritage and crafts. The aim of the project is to increase the quality of life of children from vulnerable groups by involving them in creative-educative workshops, facilitating their access to cultural events and creating opportunities for them to interact directly with specialists with various artistic backgrounds.

Changing Perspective is a project that runs art workshops for 30 vulnerable children from two state centres to develop expressiveness and creative potential and increase the level of empathy and self-confidence. For three months the children were involved in 34 artistic workshops of theater, dance, music, visual arts and ceramics. The workshops were carried out together with the psychologists of the centers and there were applied principles and techniques of art therapy and psychotherapy, as well as certain techniques and sensory theater exercises.