Healing Arts Initiative

HAI inspires healing, growth and learning through engagement in the arts for the culturally underserved. Each year, HAI touches the lives of more than 350,000 people in the New York City community whose access to the arts has been limited by health, age or income. HAI provides cultural access through music, dance, theater and the visual arts, reaching out to the frail elderly, mentally and physically disabled, seriously ill children at health and social service facilities, and youth in grades K – 12. Services include tickets to cultural events; arts workshops; on-site performances of music, theater and dance; audio description for visually impaired theater-goers; youth-leadership, conflict resolution, HIV and life skills workshops using role play techniques; and transportation for people with disabilities on three specially designed OMNI*BUSES. HAI relies on the talent and creativity of hundreds of artists and performers, in partnership with government agencies, foundations, corporations and private individuals, to deliver arts services that improve the daily lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people.