Who are we:
Our group consists of professionals who are passionate about art and health-care. Among us are a group of health-care professionals who travel to different parts of the world to assist in surgical and medical missions. Many of us are undercover artists and musicians balancing our professional careers and working together to make sure A4H is functional.
How we got started.
Our organization was not originally planned nor was it conceptualized. After a series of events and purposeful meetings, Arts4healing evolved to become a non-profit organization.
It all started in 2010 after a voluntary team of health-care workers came together to raise money for a mission trip traveling with Surgical Volunteers International (SVI). Tim Hansen, an operating room nurse asked the support of several of his coworkers to raise funds for a medical team performing surgery in Vietnam. Originally the fundraiser was meant to be a simple bake sale or a car wash. An idea to have an art show only came to mind after a nurse (Frances, a founding team member) offered to donate her work of art to raise money for the mission trip. At first what was suppose to be a solo art show, grew to feature works from local Houston artists. Frances wanted to incorporate the work of other artists to exhibit different artistic styles, thus offering more variety. Since there were hidden artistic talents amongst their fellow health-care workers, Tim and Frances also encouraged other nurses and doctors to contribute their work of art. After two weeks of planning, a silent art auction was held at Boheme on December of 2010. More than ten artists participated. Some were professional artists and others were hobbyists who donated paintings, photography and artistic jewelry to auction for the event. The outcome of the show was a success. It raised money to purchase medical supplies to treat and perform surgery on adults and children who suffered from burn injuries in Vietnam.
After the Boheme art fundraiser, a series of purposeful interactions occurred which led to the next event.
The following art exhibit was held at a Heights boutique store in which Hallagreen, a publishing company participated as a sponsor along with the participation of artists from The Brayer Room (a pop up art gallery). The event attracted the attention of the media and was briefly televised on Channel 39 news. Relating to this fundraiser, the same team who organized the art show at Boheme were present to volunteer their time and talents to raise money for Musicheals and the local fire department. This voluntary group called themselves Arts4healing. Although at the time it was just an informal team, seeing the potential to help more medical missions and social causes in the future, Arts4healing felt the need to formalize their group.
In 2011, the members of Arts4healing agreed to form a non profit 501(c)3 organization. Before obtaining the status however, the team continued to function as an informal volunteer group and proceeded to raise money for medical causes. The next art event was held on November 2011. The goal of this artshow was to raise money for Hope Initiative and a surgical mission group (SVI) traveling to Guatemala. The art show featured the work of Nhan Nguyen, a professional Houston photographer. Proceeds of his art sales were donated to help fund cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries for adults and children in Chichicastanengo, a remote part of Guatemala.
At the end of 2012 A4H, formerly known as Arts4healing received their
501(c)3 status and became recognized by the U.S internal revenue services as a nonprofit organization.
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