Public Welfare Event “Healing Music and Painting in An Inclusive Space” Is Held at ZJAM

pubdate: 2024/1/3   author: zjam  source: zjam  click:

On the afternoon of December 30, ZJAM welcomed a group of special children with autism and Down’s syndrome, who were also joined by another group of normal children, for a public welfare event called “Healing Music and Painting in an Inclusive Space”, which was jointly initiated and organized by ZJAM, Zhejiang Association of Social Music Education, Zhejiang Gonggong Public Welfare Development Center, and Starbucks.

In the medical field, both music therapy and art therapy for patients have been shown to have a positive impact on physical and mental health. On the basis of the original version, this public welfare event “Healing Music and Painting in an Inclusive Space” leveraged the unique advantages of ZJAM, broadened the dimension of art therapy, perfectly combined music with arts, and invited special children and normal children to build a caring space of “social inclusion” and “mutual help” through the means of music and art therapies.

Art is the main driving force for the early development of life and an important way to comprehensively improve the quality and ability of individuals. At the same time, art includes various visual and auditory languages, which better adapt to the inarticulate special children. Artistic means such as art and music can not only help them express themselves and unleash their emotions, but also serve the purpose of opening up their talents, improving their personalities and realizing their values, so that every special child develop an artistic mind.

The event started with “Hello Song” and ended with “Goodbye Song”. The children got to know each other by saying “hello” and deepened their interactions by playing rhyme, rhythm and other musical games together. When the game was started, the teacher introduced some of ZJAM’s collections to the children: Mr. Wu Guanzhong’s Forbidden City, Drunken Lines, Wandering in the Garden, and Sheepfold. The children watched the paintings and shared their appreciation of the art works: Forbidden City revealed royal lordliness; Drunken Lines showed the defiant and free power of a wine immortal; Wandering in the Garden was impressed by its light and elegant colors and grace like a song; Sheepfold looked like a birch tree rising into the sky...

Wu Guanzhong’s works collected at ZJAM

With the New Year’s Day approaching, the participating children were also invited to write the Chinese character “Fu” and Spring Festival couplets during the event. They put their creations together to make a long scroll as greeting to the coming new year. This not only trained the creativity and hands-on ability in the children, but also enhanced their sense of teamwork and helped them better integrate into society in the future.

“Healing Music and Painting in an Inclusive Space” is committed to enlightening the talents of special children, encouraging them to integrate with normal children through the channel of art, enhancing their interpersonal and teamwork skills, and increasing their social interactions.

We call on the social public for more understanding and tolerance towards the special children, so as to provide them with a warmer and more harmonious living environment. Let’s carry forward the traditional virtue of “mutual help” and create better social ethos. May the children who share the love to art and music gather together—spreading love in the name of and through art! Bring minds together through the bridge of art!

In the future, ZJAM also plans to work with relevant non-profit organizations to explore more forms and methods of “Healing Music and Painting” and put them into practice.