International Fine Arts and Healing (IFAH) is a student group designed:
+ to bring our artistic skills to people around the world and within the Gainesville community
+ to use those skills to enhance individual and community health
+ to create opportunities for international cultural exchange
+ and to have tons of fun!!

IFAH students use their personal art to engage with patients and caregivers in their local and global communities. Each semester will culminate with trips to Spain and other European venues, The Gambia, and Rwanda. Our club also strives to spread the healing qualities of art throughout the Gainesville community through service projects within and around Gainesville.

The whole point of IFAH is to give our time and our artistic skills to provide social and emotional support through art to people around the world. This student group is intended to give students the opportunity to experience the power of arts and healing and to interact with other cultures.

For more information or to join IFAH, please contact the IFAH President, Natasha Rosales, at natasharosales@hotmail.com; or find International Fine Arts and Healing on Facebook.

The Franklin County Project

Spring Break Service Learning Program, March 6-14, 2010

University of Florida Center for the Arts in Healthcare Franklin County, one of the most rural and health challenged areas in Florida, is the heart of the Florida oyster industry. In an effort to preserve the beautiful Apalachicola Bay estuary, the local oystermen hand-harvest the oysters. The area’s seafood industry workers, including the oystermen, experience significant health challenges as a result their long and hard work, extreme exposure to the sun and other natural elements, low wages, poor nutrition, and lack of preventive and other healthcare.

The Franklin County Project will support preservation of the Apalachicola Bay seafood industry and estuaries by preserving the health, images and stories of its workers. The project will bring awareness to the industry, including its unique artistry and the individuals who form the culture, through simultaneous oral history, mural and health projects.

An interdisciplinary team of faculty, students and health professionals from the University of Florida Center for the Arts in Healthcare will spend a week in Franklin County from March 6-14 documenting the histories of the industry and its workers and creating a set of murals reflecting the industry, the bay, and the lives of the people who sustain them. The team’s health professionals from the UF College of Nursing and Shands Hospital, will provide health screenings and health information to seafood workers and community members throughout the week at project sites.

Students can apply to participate in the project through the UF International Fine Arts for Healing student organization.

Project details:

Dates: March 6-14, 2010

Accommodations: home stays in Franklin County

Travel: 4 hours by car (group transportation will be arranged)

Cost: $300 (includes transportation, accommodations, excursions, and some meals)

Application process: submission of a short essay (application attached) by Nov. 16

Project requirements: 1) completion of required reading; 2) participation in monthly potlucks December - March; 3) participation in project fundraising activities December - March; and 4) payment of program fee by January 8, 2010.

Excursions: Dixie Theatre performance (Show TBA), John C. Gorie Museum, Apalachicola Maritime Museum, Apalachicola Museum of Art, and a final day trip to the beach in the beautiful St George Island State Park.

For more information about the project, contact Jill Sonke at jsonke@ufl.edu

For more information about the application process, contact Natasha Rosales at natasharosales@hotmail.com