The Creative Center: A Home Away From Home

New Yorkers are known for being independent people. Those who are native to Manhattan strut with purpose and brim with pride in their respective nooks. For those coming from elsewhere, the first few months on the metropolis are very similar: hometown ties are cut, needy exteriors are quickly shed, and slowly enough, self-sufficiency becomes a learned art. In a city with some of the brightest lights, biggest opportunities, and longest life expectancies, it’s easy to believe yourself invincible. That is unless you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness that reminds you on a daily basis that you’re not. Suddenly bright lights equate to hospital fluorescents, your biggest opportunity is recovery, and loneliness is an unavoidable reality. When New York suddenly turns into the coldest place imaginable, where can an independent New Yorker turn? For many, the answer lies in The Creative Center.

The Creative Center is a non-profit organization that specializes in “creative aging,” the concept that where there is artistic self-expression, there are health benefits. The center has brought art to those with chronic illnesses such as cancer or AIDS, since 1994. “We wanted to give those with cancer a home,” said Robin Glazer, director and co-founder of the Creative Center. What began as a series of workshops for women with cancer has blossomed into a program for those of all ages, genders, and stages of treatment. The Creative Center now has daily workshops, artists-in-residence hospital programs, an online gallery, and a training program that works to bring their philosophy and proven approach to arts to hospitals around the country.

As a cancer survivor herself, Glazer knew the painful process that inevitably follows cancer diagnosis. She wanted to create a haven away from the drabness of hospitals and the painful reality of treatment, a place where self-expression was not only encouraged but expanded on and improved. “I didn’t want it to just be ‘arts and crafts for sick people’, I wanted people to improve and become proud of their art,” Glazer said. With this idea in mind, Glazer constructed a program with a school-like structure. Students can take two workshops per semester, with a year at the center consisting of three semesters in total. Some of the courses available include creative writing, watercolor painting, knitting, as well as courses in ceramic and jewelry making. Classes are available to those who have had a diagnosis, are in treatment, or have recovered from a terminal illness. While these workshops do not get students actual credit, they do get the invaluable experience of creating as they recover in a non-judgmental and non-competitive environment. Best of all, the workshops are free-of-charge.

With funding from multiple organizations, The Creative Center also offers programs to hospitals at little to no cost. With guidance from the center, artists are trained to work closely with patients that unfortunately are bedridden due to their illness. Equipped with paints, beads, yarn and a plethora of other crafty things, artists-in-residence spend hours with patients who might have otherwise been alone. “The artists-in-residence program not only provides art for these patients, but friendship, and friendship is exactly what these guys need,” Glazer explained. The program has garnered such positive responses from hospitals and patients alike, that the center now offers training to senior centers and nursing home administrators. Positive responses have also led more organizations to hop on the center’s bandwagon. Such organizations include: Livestrong, National Endowment for the Arts, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.

The Creative Center’s most important partner however, is University Settlement, a social program that has actually absorbed The Creative Center this past year. University Settlement’s ideology is deeply rooted in the idea that low-income families deserve basic services at an affordable price to enable them a chance at the American Dream so proudly advertised by this country. With such similar goals, the merger is hardly a surprise. In fact, Glazer had dreamt of the day that such a program would back the center. “I was nervous for a long while of what might happen to the center if I should die,” Glazer shared, “After all, it was only three of us coordinators running the entire program. Once we got absorbed, I was ecstastic. University Settlement has secured a place for The Creative Center in the future.”

Katherine Vaz

Katherine Vaz is a true inspiration. She’s been surrounded by death and war from a very young age and instead of turning away from her pain, she has utilized her experiences to write some magnificent pieces. Vaz’s works brim with dark emotion, intriguing plots and most importantly, authenticity. She is the embodiment of the idea that through tragedy, one can create art. In fact, Vaz believes that most of her stories show the different ways in which people find happiness despite the pain they may endure.
In her writing, Katherine Vaz does not merely report on her experiences but uses them as a base or as I thought of it, “a springboard” for fiction that goes beyond her reality. This is a skill I would like to improve on myself, as I often find it challenging to detach myself from the truth when drawing upon my own experiences to write fiction. Vaz explains that it is not about what she shares about herself, or what happened to her specifically, but more about the idea that she wants to share with the world, the emotion that has built up inside of her that she wants to release for others to connect with. In her story “Taking a Stitch in a Dead Man’s Arm,” it is clear that Vaz drew from some of her own experiences with death, fear and religion when creating the Isabel character, and yet I didn’t dwell on this fact while reading it. What caught my attention more was the idea, the process of overcoming fear, which is essentially what Vaz wants the reader to focus on.
Hearing Vaz speak about how she came to be a writer also inspired me very much. I feel a writing persona within me as well. It is part of me in the same way 12-year-old Vaz realized it was a part of her. Once she had this realization, Vaz began practicing. She gave herself prompts, played around with ideas, and even took other people’s writing and began to deconstruct it in an effort to further her understanding of the structure and how she could improve her own. Considering the persistence and determination Vaz exhibited in honing her craft, it is no surprise that she is an acclaimed writer. I, myself, have only recently begun to truly exercise my writing muscles. I have always had a facility with language and writing which has caused me to rest upon that skill and regard it as my comfort zone. After hearing how Vaz pushed herself to improve her writing however, I feel motivated to do the same.