Arts & Medicine Institute

In 2008, Cleveland Clinic established an Arts & Medicine Institute to encourage and explore the role of the arts in healing and improving the overall hospital experience. “The arts can play a fundamental role in healing. Using the arts, we can create an environment that treats more than just physical symptoms,” says Iva Fattorini, MD, executive director of the Arts & Medicine Institute. “Our goal is to provide Cleveland Clinic patients, families, visitors, staff and employees with an environment that promotes health and wellness.”

The Institute co-sponsored the concert-symposium “Music and the Brain” with the Neurological Institute, in collaboration with course directors Kamal Chémali, MD, Neil Cherian MD, and Ali Rezai MD. The well-attended symposium included Franz Welser-Möst, music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, and was presented in parts at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Institute of Music, and (traveling with the Cleveland Orchestra) in Salzburg, Austria.

The Arts & Medicine Institute sponsored the Doctor-Patient Music Connection, a “Live from Lincoln Center” New Year’s Eve program and dance performances in the Miller Family Pavilion, an ongoing concert series in the Pavilion’s Rooftop Plaza, and oversees the Art Program’s ongoing enhancement of Cleveland Clinic facilities with museum-class artworks.

The Institute has expanded Music Therapy and Art Therapy and initiated research projects to assess and measure the healing power of the arts in medicine.