|
The Institute for Community Research (ICR) will host a public health forum, ‘Innovative Community-Based Intervention and Education Methods and Models,’ on Friday,
June 5, 2009 from 10 am to 4 pm. The interactive forum will feature presentations by an interdisciplinary group of artists, researchers, activists, and health professionals working in Africa, India, and Connecticut. The forum will take place at ICR at 146 Wyllys St., Hartford (2 Hartford Square West). The cost is $10 for lunch; pre-registration is required by calling 860-278-2044 x251 or emailing lynne.williamson@icrweb.org.
The forum will provide first-hand examples of the challenges and successes that come from developing new ways of partnering with communities to address HIV/AIDS and other pressing health issues. There will be ample opportunity for audience members to discuss these methods and outcomes with presenters.
Presenters include Jeffrey Fisher, Center for Health Intervention and Prevention, University of Connecticut, discussing his work in South Africa to decrease HIV transmission risk behavior among HIV positive patients; Steven Schensul, Center for International Community Health Studies, University of Connecticut, reporting on his project in India studying the role of alcohol as a behavioral risk factor affecting health issues such as HIV; Lwendo Moonzwe, Center for International Health Studies, UCONN and ICR, presenting her ideas on translating research from Dr. Schensul’s India project to community-based HIV work in Zambia; Fredrick-Douglass (Yesod) Knowles, an award-winning spoken word artist, educator, and activist who composes and performs stories in verse about HIV prevention; Margaret R. Weeks, The Institute for Community Research, describing ICR’s HIV prevention research with the female condom and microbicides in China and Connecticut; Jean J. Schensul, The Institute for Community Research, reviewing ICR’s creative dissemination projects that use art to educate and promote awareness about HIV/AIDS; Frederick Nakwagala, Fellowship Exchange Program, Yale School of Medicine, on his experiences with community mobilization in HIV clinics in Uganda; Kim Radda, Maria Martinez, Colleen Coleman, and Peer Health Advocates from ICR’s collaborative project on artistic methods of engagement and expression in health education; and Laurel Baldwin-Ragaven, Asylum Hill Family Practice, discussing her extensive work in South Africa practicing community-based medicine.
The forum is ICR’s third public event held in conjunction with the exhibit Siyazama: Traditional Arts, Education, and AIDS in South Africa, which is on view at ICR’s Jean J. Schensul Community Gallery at 146 Wyllys St., Hartford. The exhibit, which runs until June 26, 2009, is open to the public Monday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm.
Siyazama: Traditional Arts, Education, and AIDS in South Africa displays work by rural women who are part of the Siyazama (We are Trying) Education and Crafts Development Project in South Africa. The women use traditional arts skills to convey important prevention messages about HIV/AIDS, which kills one in six people in their country where information and treatment for the virus are sorely lacking.
“The exhibit and forum highlight unique community-based prevention and educational strategies that engage communities locally and globally while addressing some of the most pressing health issues of our time,” says Lynne Williamson, exhibit coordinator and director of ICR’s Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program.
ICR’s Siyazama project is sponsored by the Aetna Foundation, the Knox Foundation, the Greater Hartford Arts Council through its United Arts and United Way Community Campaigns, the National Endowment for the Arts, the CT Commission on Culture and Tourism, the Michigan State University Museum, AIDS Project Hartford, the CT AIDS Resource Coalition, the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale, and the Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention (CHIP) at the University of Connecticut. The Siyazama exhibit is curated by Marit Dewhurst and Marsha MacDowell, and developed by Michigan State University Museum.
For more information about the exhibit and forum, contact Lynne Williamson at 860-278-2044 x251 or lynne.williamson@icrweb.org.
###
The Institute for Community Research is an independent, nonprofit organization that conducts applied research and community enhancement programs to promote equal access to health, education, and cultural resources. ICR's Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program encourages and promotes traditional artists and their communities through an active process of documentation, technical assistance, and public presentations to bring their work and the history of their communities to new audiences. |
