After an intensive review of the 2021 Annual Conference we have concluded that our best and safest approach this year is to go completely virtual. We carefully considered the changing landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic which has significantly impacted so many of our members, concerns for potential variant outbreaks, and the data from two conference surveys fielded within the past few months. Our primary priority is the safety and well-being of our members, attendees, and volunteers. Based on what you shared with us in the surveys, we believe that we have made the best possible decision to meet members’ needs, interests, and concerns. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we completed this important decision-making process.

Just like last year, our virtual conference registration will provide two options to view the content: Live and via on-demand. Also, the conference will span over 4 days this year! If you attend all 4 days, we expect you will have more than 100 hours of learning available to you with the on-demand access. The conference registration packages offer 1-day, 2-day, 3-day and 4-day combinations, providing tons of flexibility and pricing to meet your needs. Just remember to register before early bird rates end on Aug. 31 so that you will lock in the lowest rates and save! Find the full program here and click here to register!

The regulatory structure of art therapists in Texas has recently undergone significant changes, both to the board with authority over the rulemaking process and to the rules themselves, including how art therapy is defined. The AATA submitted comment—first during the regular sunset review period with recommended improvements, and this week urging a proposed redefinition of art therapy as a form of counseling to be rejected.

The Accreditation Council for Art Therapy Education (ACATE) issued its inaugural semiannual newsletter, Canvas! The newsletter will regularly inform its many stakeholders of the progress of art therapy program accreditation and the actions of the Council.

Volume 38, Issue 2 of Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association is now available online! The following articles are available free access through the end of September: “Traditional Korean Art Materials as Therapeutic Media: Multicultural Expansion Through Materials in Art Therapy” by Sojung Park, Hyunjung Lee, Seungeun Kim & Yuri Kim and “Five Functions of Art Therapy Supporting Couples Affected by Alzheimer’s Disease” by Nancy Couture, Patrick Villeneuve & Sophie Éthie.

AATA members can login to MyAATA for full access to these latest articles, and more! *Note: A Journal subscription is included in AATA membership, so make sure your membership is current so you never miss an issue! Click here to renew.

This past year has brought new awareness, insights, and understanding. I have committed to find ways to be more curious, to listen to and learn from diverse voices and perspectives, to advocate more, and to have more conversations that require wholehearted vulnerability, courage, and openness. Additionally, I have felt a need to create more art over the past year to help me learn, reflect upon, and process social justice and race-related issues—and more fully understand myself through this lens. This has been a new focus in my personal art practice and one that I have found incredibly meaningful, helpful, and healing.

"With the COVID-19 pandemic having impacted youth in a variety of ways, Casa del Carmen Preschool Academy is playing a role in helping creatively mitigate some of its effects. On June 29, the Academy launched the “Spark School-Based Art Therapy” pilot program for 27 preschool-aged children who are taking part in Casa del Carmen’s Summer camp program."

"Avow Hospice announced it received a $5,000 grant from Suncoast Credit Union to help fund weekly art therapy groups for children and teens participating in its Avow Kids grief and loss programs. 'Art therapy helps children and teens express their feelings after a significant loss,' says Patricia Childress, LCSW-S, ACHP-SW, and director of Avow’s supportive services team."

"In 2019, Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins created the Shreveport Commission on Race and Cultural Diversity. 'With all of the challenges of racial inequality in our country, I felt it was important to establish the commission to deal with the issues right here at home,' Perkins said in 2019. One member of the commission found a path toward healing the community through art that has lead a collaboration of artists to develop a new mural in Shreveport. That appointee was art therapist Rebecca Thomas."

"The MGMoA is also offering two more adult workshops this summer for ages 18 and up with the new Art, Nature, and Healing Workshops on Saturday, July 10 and August 21 from 9 a.m. to noon. Reduce stress and feel uplifted with these workshops led by art therapist Maureen Harvey."

"When I was touring the Three Rivers Arts Festival and Market Square’s World Square with my friends a couple of weeks ago, we saw a young girl brushing bright blue paint onto a blank canvas. She quickly ran up to us and asked if we wanted to join her to help with the painting. Her mother followed to explain what her daughter was asking us. The woman introduced herself as Ebtehal Badawi, an artist from Saudi Arabia. She created this painting entitled 'Pittsburgh Builds Bridges' as an inclusive, healing piece."

"As parents go through their own processes of grieving, deciding how to explain traditions around death, how to support children throughout them or whether to bring them at all can be difficult to navigate. The Forward spoke to psychologist Dr. Robin Goodman, [licensed clinical psychologist, certified trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapist trained in therapy for complicated grief, and registered art therapist], to answer some frequently asked questions about children and shiva."

PODCAST: "Digital downloads for mental health needs surged nearly 200 percent during the pandemic. Now, it seems this trend is here to stay. The market for mental health apps is projected to reach 3.3 billion dollars in the next six years...Coming up, we talk to industry experts [including Briana Benn-Mirandi, therapist at Art and Soul Art Therapy in Madison, CT,] on the future of apps in mental healthcare. Anecdotes versus evidence: What works, and what doesn't?"

"There is a rock solid new art installation in Guelph General Hospital made out of painted stones residents left for staff earlier in the pandemic. The 'Gratitude Mosaic' is an installation put together by local ceramic artist Annie Burgess, which is now on display outside the hospital’s cafeteria. The mosaic shows these painted rocks surrounded by these tiles painted by staff members from different hospital departments. 'I just started studying to become an art therapist and I thought it was just the perfect opportunity to facilitate something in that capacity,' said Burgess about her interest in the project."

"The 'Art as Therapy' exhibit was unveiled Wednesday during an opening reception at the new art gallery at TReC, 616 Niagara St., Niagara Falls. Students in the Niagara Visions PROS (Personalized Recovery Oriented Services) program’s Art for Mental Health class created the work that's on display and available for purchase. Each artist will also be featured in a short video that can be accessed through AReveryware, an augmented reality platform."

"There’s little that’s more terrifying than a child in a hospital bed. That’s particularly true when that child — or maybe it’s a teenager, anyone with what should be a future that in a fair world would unfold and glitter — is in that bed with a chronic illness, or even worse, an often-fatal one. The basic undeniable unfairness of it is bitter."

"During the pandemic, a local artist used weaving to process grief and anxiety. She’s found a way to share the healing benefits of her craft with children and parents at Children's Mercy Kansas City hospital."