BREATHE HARMONY NHS CHOIR
BREATHE ARTS HEALTH RESEARCH UK
Breathe Arts Health Research design and deliver creative programmes, underpinned by scientific research, to improve health and wellbeing. Our work is co-designed with artists, scientists, healthcare staff and patients, to meet specific clinical needs. We deliver a diverse range of participatory programmes and live performance events.
Breathe’s innovative and artistic approach to transforming healthcare experiences, offer those we work with, a sense of empowerment, hope and creative fulfilment when they need it most. We are delighted to be one of the first arts and health companies to be recognised by NHS England for our work. We currently work across over 80 healthcare locations in the UK, and have delivered work as far afield as Australia. Annually we're proud to engage 50,000 people through 1,400 projects and events.
Presenter
JENNIFER BUCHANAN
JB MUSIC THERAPY
CANADA
Described as inspirational, engaging, and thought-provoking, Jennifer’s keynotes provide practical strategies, grounded in global research and case studies, that help foster improved well-being within ourselves, our workplaces, and throughout our community. Jennifer’s company has been instrumental in the implementation of hundreds of music therapy programs throughout Canada for almost 30 years. Jennifer is the recipient of the two most prestigious Canadian music therapy lifetime service awards: the Franni Award and the Norma Sharpe Award. She is the Executive Director for the Canadian Association of Music Therapists As an author of two award-winning books – ‘Tune In‘ and ‘Wellness Incorporated‘ she has appeared as a guest on numerous national news and current affairs programs.
Presenter
DAN COHEN
RIGHT TO MUSIC
US
Dan Cohen is founder of Music & Memory a program that is 29 states and more 5000 senior living facilities. Dan is passionate about the research which confirms what we know intuitively, that music we love improves mood, facilitates social interaction, prompts movement and lessens the need for behavior-altering medications. Via Right to Music, it is his goal to advocate for systemic, ubiquitous use of personal music by families and health care professionals and their systems to improve both quality of life and quality of care. His presentations to all manner of long-term care associations, caregiver support organization, and healthcare professionals, often combined with the Sundance audience award winning documentary Alive Inside, promote the power of personal music and why access to musical favorites should not be optional, but recognized as a human right.
Presenter
GORDON ANDERSON
MEMORY TRACKS
UK
Gordon has enjoyed an eclectic career, now entering its fifth decade! Despite early years in farming, it was working with the major record labels in the late 80s and 90s that set the pattern for a career in innovation and disruption. He helped the BBC enter the digital era with kids’ CD-ROMs and gaming, then spent a decade in disruptive start-ups across comedy, music, mobile, smart-home and poker. The marriage of music and healthcare is a natural culmination of these experiences, many connections, and disruptive thinking, combined with a desire to improve lives through simple ideas, particularly those less fortunate.
Presenter
GRACE MEADOWS
MUSIC FOR DEMENTIA
UK
Grace Meadows is Director of Music for Dementia, a national campaign to make music accessible to everyone as part of their dementia care. As a musician and music therapist, Grace has extensive experience of working with music to help enhance and enrich quality of life through music across the lifespan. When Covid struck and social distancing restrictions came into being, there was an immediate need to respond to the gap left by in-person music-based services for people living with dementia having to cease. This resulted in the creation of m4dradio.com, an online radio station designed with and for people living with dementia and their carers to help bridge the gap and ensure the music kept playing.
Presenter
RUTH WATKISS
ALZHEIMER SOCIETY PEEL
CANADA
Ruth Watkiss, Certified Music Therapist, has dedicated her career to working with individuals living with dementia at the Alzheimer Society Peel for the last 15 years. In her work at the Alzheimer Society Peel, she conducts individual and group music therapy sessions at the day programs and respite house; executes Memories to Music, an intergenerational composition legacy program involving students from Mentor College and people living with dementia; bi-annually partners with the Mississauga Festival Choir to run an intergenerational choir for care partners, their loved ones, seasoned singers and high school students; and oversees the iPod program. Recently she has been excited to change her program style for our new virtual programs including singalongs, trivia, virtual choir and a new partnership with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Presenter
AARON LIGHTSTONE
MUSIC THERAPY TORONTO &
ROOM 217
CANADA
Aaron Lightstone is an award-winning musician, music therapist and educator. He performs on oud and guitar and is founder of Jaffa Road, a Canadian world music group. Aaron is founder/clinical director of a busy clinical practice, Music Therapy Toronto, which specialises in the rehabilitation of neurologic injury and disease. Aaron also has extensive experience working as a music therapist in end-of-life care. Aaron was the creative lead for a collection of 6 albums for palliative and end-of-life care produced by Room 217. Diverse Sounds is a response to the cultural landscape in Canada. Instrumentation, improvisation and other factors were thoughtfully curated to meet the needs of palliative patients from around the world