- Did you know that just looking at a painting for 10 minutes helps your health? That it sends messages to your brain that are transmitted round your whole body in minutes and can dramatically lower your cortisol levels and blood pressure.
- That arts and culture therefore carry the power to enrich and heal – both the world we live in, and that of the future.
- The entire building of the Chelsea Westminster hospital in London was designed around arts & culture.
- That the powerful combination of arts and science recommended to live healthier, happier, longer lives was recognised by the Greeks as early as the 4thC BCE
- At the end of a study in the United States comparing tango dancing to mindfulness meditation, 97% of participants chose to receive a voucher for a tango class rather than one for meditation. Both activities were found to reduce depression, but only dancing reduced stress levels.
- CEO of The Torch organization for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners in Victoria to sell the art they have produced in jail and keep the profits to support themselves after they are released, Kent Morris – a Kurnu Barkindu Aboriginal himself, says that apart from the benefit of the money, and the major benefit of selling a painting, is the change in the way that person was perceived by the community and themselves:
“One man said to me, ‘My family have been calling me the artist, the storyteller, whereas before I was the ex-offender, the criminal.”
Jill Rivers has compiled a strong case for making arts & culture part of everyday life in The Arts Apothecary published this month by Art-full Living.
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ISBN: 9781925579086
Publisher: Art-full Living
Non-fiction 278 Pages
Available in Kindle and paperback
Paperback RRP: $24.99 Wholesale discount 40%
Contact Art-full Living for stock. Available at selected bookshops and on Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Book Depository.
Author Profile
Jill Rivers is a writer, producer and cultural consultant who has been immersed in making arts & culture accessible for over forty years – first as a journalist specialising in food, wine & the arts, later as Media Director of The Australian Ballet touring with the company and building its profile nationally and internationally. She has since served on various dance boards, staged events such as the Australian Dance Awards, National Choreographic Workshops, written a dance biography and film script, plus high-end travel itineraries for the cultural capitals of Australia, New Zealand and China and started a series of Public Programs – Artspeak at the (Victorian) Arts Centre, Melbourne.
In 2008 she abandoned city life to move to Central Victoria, where she established Daylesford Macedon Ranges Open Studios and Art-full Conversations – sharing the secrets of Movers, Shakers & Creators of Arts & Culture. She has set up a campaign of Art-full Challenges to encourage people to Be Creative and spread the message of this book.