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NW MI Arts & Culture Network

McLaren Northern Michigan Foundation

A $4,000 MCACA minigrant supported the acquisition of artwork from northern Michigan artists for McLaren Northern Michigan (MNM)’s new hospital lobby which opened August 2021. The Art Program is part of MNM’s Building the Future of Health Care Project which involves constructing a new wing and renovating parts of our Petoskey Campus facility. The project used art to implement evidence-based design, create a healing environment and enhance the patient experience. MCACA support helped launch the Art Program in the new hospital lobby which has the most traffic and is accessible to the public. Overall, 96 primarily northern Michigan artists were engaged with the entire project.

According to project leaders, the Building the Future of Health Care Art Program has been an overwhelming success with positive feedback from hospital patients, visitors, staff, and local artists and arts organizations. The Program encompasses the entire new hospital wing, including 181 pieces of artwork acquired primarily from Michigan artists. The majority of artwork was purchased and installed by the new wing’s opening on August 14. Grant funding from the MCACA Minigrant Program contributed to the acquisition of 35 pieces of artwork for McLaren Northern Michigan (MNM)’s new hospital lobby.

Support allowed project leaders to focus on the art in the most public space in the hospital which serves as wayfinding, waiting area for the laboratory and radiology services, and family/visitor waiting. During the first two months, nearly 1,500 individuals, including over 400 inpatients and their families, have had the opportunity to experience the art in the new wing. In an average year, McLaren Northern Michigan will serve patients through more than 172,000 outpatient visits and 11,000 hospital stays. The majority of these patients, and their families travel through the new hospital lobby. Additionally, MNM employs more than 1,200 staff and providers who work at the Petoskey Campus and who travel through this space daily.

Art, in its many forms, is an important element of the evidence-based design of the new hospital wing. Art installations provide additional benefits in a health care environment. Whether you are the patient or their loved one, visiting a hospital can be very stressful. Carefully chosen and strategically placed art in the new wing is helping to alleviate anxiety by:
• Providing a positive distraction that holds the viewer’s attention and shifts their focus away from worries, fears, and pain
• Serving as visual cues or landmarks to help with wayfinding and to decrease confusion or feeling lost
• Offering comfort by depicting a familiar place or beloved local attraction
• Absorbing sound to lower noise levels or obscuring unattractive views
• Making the facility feel less clinical, putting patients, families and staff at ease

The Building the Future of Health Care Art Program will continue to benefit hospital patients, staff and visitors for years to come and contribute to the hospital’s long-term goals which include: increased patient satisfaction; shorter inpatient stays; less medications requested/dispensed; and decreased turnover in staff.

PO Box 1859
Traverse City, MI
49685

Our Members

Organizations

Charlevoix Circle of Arts

Crosshatch Center for Art & Ecology

Dennos Museum Center

Elizabeth Lane Oliver Center for the Arts

Good Hart Artist Residency

Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra

Leelanau Historical Society

Michigan Legacy Art Park

National Writers Series

OrdinaryVirtues.com

Traverse City Dance Project

Glen Arbor Arts Center

Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum

Jordan River Arts Council

Mash-Up Rock & Roll Musical

City Opera House

Benzie Historical Society

Harbor Springs Festival of the Book

Downtown Development Authority

The Historic Vogue Theatre of Manistee

Northport Art Association

Voices Without Borders

Blissfest Music Organization

Raven and Lotus LLC

Traverse City Arts Commission

Crooked Tree Arts Center

Up North Arts

Cadillac Visitors Bureau

Parallel 45 Theatre Festival

Old Town Playhouse

Twisted Fish Gallery

Interlochen Center for the Arts

Traverse Symphony Orchestra

Rachael Harrell – Drama Kids

The Croft Residency

Drama Kids – Rachael Harrell

Individuals

Gary Gatzke

Ian Jones

Jim Young

Kristi Wodek

Mark Bowyer

Mary Gillett

Megan Heator

Molly Thompson

Renee Hintz

Susan Wenzlick

Ted Alan

Greta Bolger

Edward Kocher

Nick Walsh

Heather Harris-Brady

Monica Stokes

Amanda Kik

Mercedes Michalowski

Sharon Hubbard

Leslie Donaldson

Elizabeth Calcutt

Maia Hausler

Becky Lancaster

Linda Dewey

Melissa Johnson

Daniel Stewart

Walter J. Lee

Michelle Bien

H. Eleanor Jones

Tom Kaufmann

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