Inside Mside Episode 65: Celebrating mental health through Arts for Hearts

In this episode, Dr. Ryan Allen introduces Arts for Hearts, a free community event on April 23 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. celebrating mental health and wellness through music, yoga, sound baths, and activities hosted by campus and local partners.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is Inside M-Side, your favorite podcast for all things Morningside.

(00:04):
Here's stories from students, alumni, faculty, and more about what makes the
Morningside experience so special.
Hello, and welcome back to Inside M-Side.
I'm one of your hosts, Alice San, and today we'll be talking about arts for
hearts. So Ryan, I'll kick it off for you to introduce yourself.
Really appreciate it. My name's Ryan Allen.

(00:24):
I'm the coordinator for collaborative research here at Morningside and one of
the creators and co-developers of this Arts for Hearts event.
Love it. And can you kind of give me an overview of what is Arts for Hearts?
There is, we've talked about there's music involved.
It's about mental health. So give me like a big picture overview.

(00:45):
No, you hit the big things right there.
It's all about mental health and wellness and the arts.
And it's an event that's funded through the Iowa Arts Council.
And the whole point of this partnership grant is to bring together different
community providers, mental health providers, wellness providers, yoga
teachers, other folks like that, and offer our community a chance to come

(01:07):
together and just experience a sense of belonging and to connect with one another
and to have a good time.
Love it. Can you kind of highlight like the shout out some of the big standout
performances? There's going to be a few different things going on that we'll get
into, but like shout out what you're most excited for.
Well, we've got folks coming from, believe it or not, all over the country to

(01:27):
perform here. So we have the Brothers Druthers are kind of our headline act.
And they come, one of the main performers is from Wyoming, the other from
Kentucky, and they're meeting in Iowa to, to perform here.
And so I'm really excited about that.
Ultraviolet Fever, which is a great local act.
They're going to be here. Sean and Angie Blomberg.
And then Mike Langley and Morningside Staple was going to be here performing as

(01:49):
well. Byron Keel and as well as a bunch of different cool wellness offerings.
We have the Expansion Center is going to be here to do a sound bath.
We have Evolve Yoga, teaching yoga.
We have Rock Valley Physical Therapy, who's going to be here and all sorts of
other folks as well to to offer services while there's music playing.

(02:10):
But also we'll have a great vendor set up of different mental health organizations.
We've got CASA and Siouxland Mental Health, Heartland Counseling, Healing
Without Borders. LAMB Theater is going to be here as well.
So arts organizations as well.
And in addition, we'll have some different Morningside faculty, arts faculty, who
will be kind of set up in stations so folks can kind of come and do different

(02:31):
activities. And all sorts of other cool, cool things going on.
I love it. It sounds I mean, we've talked about a little bit behind the scenes, like
planning and everything. Can you walk me through like the planning process?
How early did this start?
And I mean, we're ramping up.
So what's what's there left to do?
Yeah, this has really been a long time coming.
So we've been doing events in addition to this event on April 23rd.

(02:55):
We've also been hosting two events on campus a month as a part of the grant.
So we've been having music on campus and then also these wellness events.
And so that's been going on since December.
Each month we've had two of those events.
And so it kind of all culminates here this month, this month coming up here in April.
But going back even further than that, you know, the planning for it really came
together when we identified the opportunity in the Office of Sponsor Programs for

(03:20):
this Arts Council grant.
It's powered by and funded through the National Endowment for the Arts.
And so that's something we're really interested in being a part of.
And especially when the opportunity came to for this particular initiative, which was
a partnership grant, it's really designed to bring community entities together.
And so Morningside's really pumped to be able to be kind of that anchor institution to

(03:41):
bring together these different wellness organizations, these small businesses in our
community, nonprofit organizations, different mental health organizations, and then all
these really cool artists all to be here together for our students, but also because
this is free and open to the public for our community as well.
Yeah, I was just going to say it's open for students and people on campus.

(04:02):
But we're we're really hoping that people from off campus come enjoy the day.
It's from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Thank you. Yes.
OK, so, yeah, there's like a wide range of if you're, you know, you get off some time
for lunch or if you're just walking around campus.
I mean, we have a million dog walkers come on campus.
And just because we have a really nice campus to enjoy that, yeah, you're really hoping

(04:24):
to have a lot of community members because there's also been a community effort as far
as the planning and getting the sponsors.
Talked about CASA, the Expansion Center, some of the like yoga places here in town.
Kind of talk me through, like, how were you picking artists to perform?
How were you deciding on like what the day was going to look like?
All of that kind of like behind the scenes stuff.

(04:45):
I think it's really just working connections.
You know, I think that's one of my jobs in the Office of Sponsor Programs is
collaborative research, which is really all about bringing the campus out in the
community and the community to campus.
And so I just really reached out to artists that I knew in town and folks that I was
connected with. I'm a yoga teacher as well.

(05:06):
And so I know some of these folks on the side and just wanted to reach out and see who was
available. And the great thing is when the call went out, everybody wanted to be
involved because they see the value of, again, coming together as a community and
especially, you know, in the climate that we're in where we can it's we all we hear about
is division. But there's really all these great opportunities to to show that we can

(05:29):
build community and we can be collaborative and bring all these different walks of life
together just to have fun in the name of like peace and love and music and all the good
stuff. You know, yeah, it's not too complicated.
I was going to say, you talked about like coming together and like also a sense of
togetherness. Can you kind of talk to me about like the mental health aspect of this and
like the importance that has on our campus and, you know, just like in culture right

(05:53):
now? Absolutely.
Walk me through that.
You know, this is you know, I'm I'm just an English teacher, really.
So I can't really say this is my area of expertise, but I know I can see it firsthand
and as we're living it in the world today, just the need to promote mental health and
especially amongst our young people, we see it.
There's too much stress, too much anxiety and too much folks working way too hard for

(06:15):
way too little. And so as much as we can, we it's easy to blame social media, this
factor, that factor, whatever are the causes.
We know that folks feel isolated and that we need to bring people, find ways to bring
people together, to bring people out of their dorms, out of their houses, out of their
apartments, out of the classrooms and into these shared spaces where we can talk

(06:39):
together, dance together, laugh together, move together and even just share space, share
a meal. I think that's we need it now more than ever.
And on a college campus, you know, we're not immune here.
And so like our students is when we look around and like everything looks great, but
like it's it's what's on the inside, you know, and folks are struggling and we need to

(07:01):
acknowledge that and just assume it and not wait for people to ask for help.
Their their behaviors, you know, like the way their isolation is is the is the is the
asking for it. And so we need to answer the call.
And, you know, the issues are big and they're profound and our response to them needs to
be even bigger. So that's our role as educators, as providers, caregivers, as people who

(07:25):
want to see young people succeed.
Like we need to create spaces for that to happen for them.
Yeah. And it's like a perfect time of year.
Like, I always love like April starts getting warmer and this is like things start
looking a little bit more green.
So I'm like I'm like so excited for especially the end of April on a college campus is
like the time I'm with you.
It's like the best time ever that in like late September, early October when you get to

(07:49):
like homecomings, those are the best time to be on a college campus.
So especially bringing like something as lively as this, you know, I talk about all the
time with students that like I love when I go on a walk and I see students like on picnic
blankets or at the picnic tables and they're sitting with friends and they're outside.
I love that. I think this is like a great like bringing some zest back to campus as it

(08:11):
gets a little warmer and the grass is a little bit greener now.
I love it.
And this will be outside. So and the weather is going to be great.
The sun is going to be shining.
It's going to be wonderful. We're going to have some food trucks here as well.
So folks have a chance to come and get, like you said, have a share a meal, sit in the
grass, listen to some music, do some yoga, go meditate where it hasn't happened yet.
But we're working on some baby goats.

(08:32):
So we got some baby goats.
I mean, this is us like speaking it into existence.
That's right. We're going to make it happen.
I love it. And can you kind of talk me through like any challenging parts of planning or
anything? I mean, I know we talked about getting securing food trucks, all of that.
Like there's so many logistics that I'd be interested if there's anything that like has
been a little bit challenging, but it's like come to fruition that you're like very excited

(08:55):
about. One of the things that's been challenging, you know, initially, we really wanted
to reach to connect with as many young people as we could.
So we've tried to reach out to high schools and we still hope that our folks will come
here, you know, like to bring classes to to experience the event.
So that's something we're still really hopeful for.
The thing that's, you know, as you know, I'm just the grant writer.

(09:16):
And so like usually this is always behind the scenes.
Like the fact that I'm here talking to you is seems so like I want to be just typing on a
computer where no one can see.
But it is really one of the most fulfilling things to be involved in something like this.
Like we know that this is going to produce something that is good.
It's tangible. It's concrete.

(09:38):
It's it's going to make people feel good.
And to just know that to be a part of that feels really, really awesome.
And so that's whatever the challenges are.
You're right. There's a ton of logistics more than it can ever really comprehend going into
it. But it's worth it because it's going to be a really like you're right.
We're speaking it into existence.
It's going to be an awesome day.
And we're going to look around, you know, staring from amidst it all in the middle of the

(10:01):
day and realize that we've done something special.
So I'm excited for that.
I love it. And show off this awesome poster that you got here.
This is our hot off the press here.
You can find it in a variety of places on campus, but as well as in Sioux land.
Can you tell me some of the places you can find this poster that has a little bit more of
the detailed information?
They will be in different coffee shops and bars and all the you know, all the different

(10:24):
places in the community and then also as well in all our different partner organizations.
So we're going to reach out to all our different yoga organizations and mental health
groups and arts center and and so on to get it up and about all over here that we have
it everywhere, everywhere.
Yeah, we are really hoping to see people on campus April 23rd between 9 and 2 p.m.

(10:45):
Any like last information that you want to quick share before we close out today?
Just, you know, no experience necessary.
It's free. It's open to the public.
It's it's all here to have fun.
So just come bring a friend, bring a blanket, bring and bring your your party pants and
ready to dance and have some fun.
I love it. Well, thank you so much, Ryan.

(11:07):
It's been awesome having you on to talk about this is going to be such a fun day.
I'm so excited and make sure listeners that you are also going to be on campus.
It's going to be amazing to hear all the music, have the food.
Everything is going to be super awesome for Arts for the Hearts on April 23rd from 9 a.m.
to 2 p.m. That is it for this episode of Inside M-Side and we'll see you guys in a few weeks.