Museums and Mental Health

Explore what it means for art museums to center mental health as part of the visitor experience during the age of COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter Movement with Kajette Solomon, Education Program Coordinator, RISD Museum, and Damion Vania, Clinical Counselor, RISD. This open dialogue will consider how museums can be both spaces of healing and curiosity while also triggering traumatic experiences and negative emotions. How can art make visitors feel seen and considered? How can art museums put us in touch with our senses and ultimately elevate the human experience?
Pre-program readings:Museums Must Become More Trauma Informed (approx. 20 min. read)Jackie Armstrong, Art Museum Teaching, August 3, 2020
Are Museums Good For Your Mental Health? (approx. 6 minute read)Rebecca Carlsson, MuseumNext, May 16, 2020
Free. Registrants will receive a Zoom link included with their confirmation email.
Register 
Damion Vania, LMHC is a psychotherapist who works at RISD CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) and has a private practice in Providence. Past places he has lived include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the Caribbean, NYC, and Truro, MA. Past occupations include, middle school teacher, bike messenger, gallery assistant, actor, house cleaner, deck hand, and hobo surf nerd.
Kajette Solomon is the Education Program Coordinator at the RISD Museum and recently accepted a board position as the New England Regional Director of the American Association of Museum Volunteers. Kajette also made her alma mater’s list of ‘40 Under 40’ alumni Class of 2020. She holds a BA in Art History from Arcadia University and MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory and Criticism from the State University of New York at Purchase College.
Image: Gallery view of Heads Up! Recent Gifts to the Collection on view at the RISD Museum July 31, 2015, through January 10, 2016.