The Arts & Humanities Program

Improving Healthcare through the Arts

The Georgetown Lombardi Arts & Humanities Program (AHP) at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital promotes cura personalis, which means care for the whole person, for patients, family members, caregivers, medical staff, students, and community members. Through its offerings of music, expressive writing, dance, and visual arts, wellness is significantly promoted throughout the hospital.

These therapeutic art modalities encourage a creative and constructive response to illness. In addition to in person activities such as classes, workshops, bedside visits, art exhibitions, environmental enhancements, and educational programs, the AHP also provides an array of online classes free of charge. Overall, these programs contribute to promoting an optimum life experience for those who encounter and interact with the AHP and Medstar Georgetown University Hospital.


Featured Events

Painting of two men conversing while sitting on lounge chairs poolside
From the “Pool Guys” Series, Sharon Wolpoff, 27″ x 31″, Oil on Canvas, 2023. Photo by John Woo.

“RECOLLECTIONS”: an Exhibition by Artist Sharon Wolpoff

On display February 5th through September 6th, 2024
Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Adult Clinic
Presented by the Georgetown Lombardi Arts & Humanities Program

Opening Reception

Wednesday, February 28, 2024
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Gallery talk: 6:30 p.m.

Location: Martin Marietta Conference Room in the Lombardi Cancer Center Atrium

Join us for the opening reception for “RECOLLECTIONS,” an exhibition of paintings by artist Sharon Wolpoff that reflects the belief in the healing power of the arts. Wolpoff’s gallery talk, titled “Affirming the Connection Between Healing and the Arts,” will be a conversation between the artist and Arts & Humanities Program Director Julia Langley. RSVP to Noni Ford at nf332@georgetown.edu to attend and for more information.


Image of author Gretchen E. Henderson in field of red poppy flowers.

Life in the Tar Seeps Lecture and Book Signing

Join former Georgetown University professor Gretchen E. Henderson as we explore the climate crisis, caring for overlooked ecosystems and grappling with our human imprints on earth.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.

Location: BioEthics Research Library- Healy Hall

Life in the Tar Seeps grew from Great Salt Lake as a watershed for reperceiving overlooked places to approach environmental healing. More than a reading, her talk at Georgetown will blend photography, cinema, and field studies on cultivating arts of attention, not only far afield but wherever we are.

Gretchen Ernster Henderson is a multimedia writer and interdisciplinary educator who bridges environmental arts, cultural histories, integrative sciences, health and public humanities. Her fifth book, Life in the Tar Seeps, has seeped across publications, exhibitions, and field practices into a participatory global project, Dear Body of Water: https://dearbodyofwater.poetsforscience.org/ (new window)

This event is sponsored by the Georgetown Lombardi Arts and Humanities Program, Lannan Center For Poetics and Social Practice, Medical Humanities Initiative, Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship, and the Engaged and Public Humanities Program.



Supporting Wellness through the Arts

Video describing the benefits and support provided by the AHP.

Arts & Humanities Program News & Updates

Arts & Humanities in Georgetown Health: Winter 2023

The Georgetown Arts & Humanities Program is pleased to be featured in the Winter 2023 edition of Georgetown Health Magazine! The article highlights the instillation of artist-in-residence exhibitor Aida Murad, as well as the engagement of artists-in-residence with patients in the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. To read more on our feature in Georgetown Health, click the button below!


The AHP’s National Endowment for the Arts Research Grant

Dear Readers, 

I am happy to share some wonderful news with you. The Georgetown Lombardi Arts and Humanities Program (AHP) received its first grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The NEA’s Office of Research and Analysis, through the Research Grants in the Arts program, awarded the AHP $64,000 to support research studying the effect of music on ICU patients’ neurologic and physiologic responses.

This grant, Recovery in the ICU: An Investigation of Music-induced Physiologic and Metabolic Changes that Promote Healing, aligns with AHP’s mission to encourage a creative and constructive response to illness, and to promote wellness.  For more than 30 years, the AHP has brought the arts and humanities into the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in order to provide cura personalis, or care of the whole person.

This study is the result of many dedicated professionals working together to find a way to measure the impact of music on health. Planning for the grant began in 2018, when the AHP held its first international Music as Medicine Symposium at Georgetown University.

Recovery in the ICU: An Investigation of Music-induced Physiologic and Metabolic Changes that Promote Healing heralds an era of deep and broad-ranging research into the efficacy of integrating the arts and humanities into healthcare. Scientific research is one of the four pillars of the AHP.  It informs our vital work in patient care, staff care and medical education. 

However, it’s the involvement of YOU, our wonderful, global community, that excites us the most.  Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletters and website, and for joining our classes and events.  With you, we’re going to make 2023 the year of the arts and humanities! I look forward to seeing you online again soon.

In good health and friendship,

Julia Langley, AHP Faculty Director


FREE Online Classes from AHP

In our continuing response to the COVID-19 pandemic and our role in encouraging a creative response to illness, the AHP presents a line up of free virtual classes with some of our exceptional resident artists for MedStar Georgetown University Hospital patients, caregivers, staff members, students, and community members. Space is limited, so sign up today! 

Mondays

Tuesdays

Wednesdays

Thursdays


Thank You!

The AHP was formed more than 30 years ago and continues today thanks to the generosity of many individuals as well as private and community organizations. If you are interested in making a gift to the Georgetown Lombardi Arts and Humanities Program, please contact Faculty Director, Julia Langley directly at (202) 444- 7228 or julia.langley@georgetown.edu.

We deeply appreciate your interest in the Georgetown Lombardi Arts and Humanities Program!

Sincerely,

Julia Langley, MA, MBA
Faculty Director, Arts and Humanities Program
Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center


“I made the decision to treat my cancer in a place 70 miles from home because I hoped that through the Arts Program I would find some part of myself again, that I would not drown in the fear of this disease.”

Leslie, Cancer Survivor


Follow us to see our latest updates: