"Decorate the City" - A Healing Arts Campaign
Venting the Emotional Aftermath of 9/11
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW YORK, NY - As part of a post-traumatic recovery plan for
New Yorkers, Decorate the City, is focusing on
healing through artistic expression.
Successfully launched in Washington Heights on August 29th, it is
now expanding citywide, helping people cope with 9/11-related anxiety. Continuing through
Thanksgiving weekend, it is open to kids, adults and seniors. Thousands are expected to
participate, creating posters, murals, photographs, poems and any other form of expression
they choose.
Co-sponsored by Hearts & MindsSMandNYC
Recovers, Decorate the City is part of a series of September Wellness events. The nonprofit
organizations are offering a wide range of activities, providing helpful information, and
empowering people to respond constructively to the 9/11 anniversary.
The local business community has rallied in support, showing the creative results in
corporate lobbies and storefront windows. Decorate the City attempts to
overshadow an ugly memory with an event that respectfully commemorates while helping New
Yorkers heal.
"Creativity is a powerful – and empowering –
response," says Bill Blackman, founder and president of Hearts & Minds. "Art
inspires great, positive changes. Working together, each of us can help promote stronger
communities and build bridges between the diverse parts of our city and our world."
Decorate the City is actively recruiting community groups to
participate. Hearts & Minds is also posting artwork
on
its website, reaching people throughout New York City and all over the world.
"This September, as we face the anniversary of the tragedy, we
need to take care of ourselves – our bodies, our minds and our spirits – to get
through a difficult time in a healing and healthy way," says Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove, co-founder of NYC Recovers and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Public
Health, Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute.
The NYC Recovers website –
www.nycrecovers.org –
includes a full schedule of other NYC Recovers events. The Hearts & Minds website – www.change.net – is filled with advice and links for
psychological health, support groups and volunteering, as well as ways to address the root
causes of terrorism and other important issues.
For more information
on how you, your children, school, congregation, community organization or business can
get involved, contact Hearts & Minds at 1-212-280-0333.
