• Friday, Dec. 19, 2025 - Arts in Health  - Social Prescription 
  • Arts Pharmacy -  Chris Appleton, CEO 
  • United Way of Southern Maine - Lee Klarman Director, Community Resiliency
  • Mass Cultural Council - Erik Holmgren, Manager of Advancement and Strategic Partnership

• Friday, Jan. 16, 2026 - Arts in Health  - Creative Aging
  • Lifetime Arts - Julie Kline 
  • The Maine Council on Aging - Meriah Hope 

• Friday, Feb. 20, 2026 - Arts in Health - Youth & Mental Health 

• Friday, Mar. 20, 2026 - Arts in Health - Community Arts & Public Health

In-Person Convening Wait List -REGISTRATION

• Friday, April 10, 2026 (1-5pm) - In-person convening at MaineHealth Lifestyle Medicine, 329 Maine Street, Brunswick ME 04011 

   Program Schedule

   12:30 p.m. Doors Open for Networking

   1:00 p.m. Welcomes Maine Arts Commission & MaineHealth

   1:10 p.m. Artistic Grounding with Researcher & Artist Tanja Kunz 

   1:30 p.m. Special Guest - Naj Wikoff - NeuroArts

   2:10 p.m. Q/A

   2:25 p.m. Breakout Session

   2:55 p.m. Break

   3:10 p.m. Special Guest - Marcel Foster - Performance Hypothesis

   3:50 p.m. Q/A

   4:10 p.m Breakout Session

   4:40 p.m. Takeaway exercise 

    5:00 p.m. Close 

Speaker Bios

Naj Wikoff, a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Global Health, is a founding member of the National Organization for Arts in Health, where he served as vice president, and a co-founder of the National Initiative for the Arts in Health in the Military and Lesley University’s Center for Arts in Health. A past president of the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, Naj is the, former director of the Healing Arts program of the C. Everett Koop Institute at the Dartmouth Medical School and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Naj works as a consultant with Aesthetics, Inc. that uses the arts to create environments that engage, connect and heal. For over three decades, Naj has served as the arts coordinator for Connecting Youth and Community. Naj is a professional artist, known for creating large-scale environmental sculptures and, for many years, was represented by the Zolla-Lieberman gallery of Chicago, and an award-winning columnist.

Arts in health—sometimes called arts in medicine or arts in healthcare—is a diverse, multidisciplinary field dedicated to enhancing health and the healthcare experience through creative expression. It integrates literary, performing, and visual arts, design, and other forms of creativity into healthcare and community settings to improve health and well-being.

Research shows the arts help treat Alzheimer’s, substance use disorders, chronic pain, and depression, while reducing isolation and loneliness. For example, a recent eClinicalMedicine study found that social isolation and loneliness significantly increase risks for type 2 diabetes, dementia, heart disease, stroke, and premature death—risks comparable to smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have similarly highlighted the profound health risks of social isolation, an issue particularly relevant in Maine, which has the nation’s oldest population and significant rural access challenges. 

“The arts play a vital role in addressing challenges by fostering community connection, promoting healthy lifestyle habits, reducing stress, and building resilience,” said Maine Arts Commission Executive Director Amy Hausmann. “Creativity is essential to health—it serves as a bridge connecting generations, communities, and regions. These roundtables are designed to inspire, provide resources, and foster new connections, creating a space to explore the possibilities in Maine if the arts and health sectors collaborate. By partnering with community wellness organizations, libraries, YMCAs, recreation programs, retirement communities, funders, schools, and state agencies, we can weave creative activities into daily life, strengthening well-being across the state.”