When Creative Identity had to switch to a virtual reality last year because of COVID-19, administrators worried how that kind of jarring adjustment would go over with participants in their day program.
Remote-only contact is hard enough for anybody, but the Anaheim-based program focuses on interaction with adults who have developmental and intellectual disabilities. Under the close attention of instructors, they learn music, painting, ceramics and other means of self-expression, while incorporating basic life skills, such as everyday math.
But guess what?
Creative Identity only lost a few of its then-clients, and one of them was someone who moved on to study art at a community college. The program also has gained new participants.
The Zoom gatherings turned out to be a lifesaver for Creative Identity, now in its 25th year, with sites in Anaheim and Laguna Beach.
The program serves adults challenged by Down syndrome, autism, seizure disorder and other disabilities, including cerebral palsy and blindness. They took to the remote sessions, enjoying greater flexibility in choosing instructors and class times.
“They loved it,” said George Gilliam, the accomplished jazz guitarist and music therapist who founded the program with just one student on the roster to start.
“They gravitated to it so quickly.”
Some pandemic assistance to help pay staff and a grant from Charitable Ventures to buy iPads for participants who lacked the technology also smoothed the way, as did home visits to provide instruction on how to Zoom and periodic phone checkups to see how everyone was coping, Gilliam said.
“That’s what helped us stay open.”
Community support
Disabled adults 18 and older attend Creative Identity under the auspices of the Regional Center of Orange County. State funding keeps the program free to participants, while monetary and in-kind donations help Creative Identity stay stocked with art supplies and other necessities like strings for violins, cellos and guitars.
The city of Anaheim, under a five-year lease that Creative Identity hopes will be renewed next May, provides free space for the main campus inside the former Atchison train depot at Citrus Park. The nonprofit’s board of directors initiated a way for supporters to donate appreciated stock and legacy gifts.
With an annual budget of about $720,000, donations are crucial to Creative Identity’s ability to continue. The Regional Center reduced the per-student rate paid to Creative Identity by about 20% when instruction switched from on-site to remote, Gilliam said. The Anaheim site also had to overcome a burglary last December that resulted in the loss of musical instruments. Also, a violin teacher is needed.
But Creative Identity, now operating a hybrid model of virtual classes and downsized on-site sessions that began in June, actually has more participants than it did before the changes brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The Anaheim site grew from 29 to 33, while Laguna Beach went from 17 to 19.
In order to maintain safe distancing, only 12 participants at a time can attend the live gatherings that were suspended for more than a year because of COVID-19 protocols. They rotate days so everybody gets a chance to attend in person twice a week.
The participants, who range in age from 22 to 73, and their caregivers continue to thrive.
Just ask Val Washington, whose daughter started attending Creative Identity back when she had just turned 21 and completed her high school instruction. It’s been 13 years now that Ashley Washington has traveled from home in Buena Park to attend.
“I’m going to keep her there,” said Val Washington, who runs a funeral service with her husband. “She’s not going anywhere. They have got such a wonderful program.”
Ashley Washington, 34, is the younger of two daughters. She has a mild form of Down syndrome, enough to affect her ability to live independently. But, boy, can she make art and music. She’d been drawing since childhood and playing the drums – a full kit that she mastered by ear. Through the program, she’s produced paintings that she’s sold through the Creative Identity store on Etsy and has added violin, cello, marimba and ukulele to her musical repertoire.
“If Ashley wasn’t going there, I don’t know what she would do,” Val Washington said. “If she can play her music and she can draw and she’s happy, that’s all that matters.”
Therapy of art
On a quiet Tuesday morning in early December, ceramics instructor Elise Woodward guided a group in making heart-shaped slab dishes in one of the 50-minute classes. Ceramics was the first on-site class offered when the doors to Creative Identity reopened.
It had been a few years since the program had a ceramics teacher. Now a table is filled with coffee mugs, dishes, pendants, ornaments and other creations that can be sold on Etsy or at the Anaheim farmers market on Thursday nights. The artists earn commissions on sales, which also help replenish supplies.
Nancy Valenzuela, in her 30s, and Helen Avila, 22, shared a workstation. They both started at Creative Identity this past summer. Avila was focused on making cookie-cutter hearts from her clay slab to fashion into pendants.
“I like when I can do different things,” she said, briefly taking her attention off her work.
In another room across the way, a music therapy session was wrapping up. Music therapy is a key element of Creative Identity. Both Gilliam and program director Cynthia Smith are music therapists, as is associate director Andrea Hancock, who runs the Laguna site.
“Besides the development of cognitive and fine motor skills through learning to sing and play musical instruments, music therapy provides our clients opportunities for making choices, engaging successfully with others, increasing motivation to try new things, and developing self-expression and creativity,” Smith said.
The music skills go on display at community concerts.
One of the two performers working with music therapist Jennifer Knoll in person on this Tuesday is Joaquim Dixon, 56, the savant who inspired Gilliam to start Creative Identity. Dixon sat at a keyboard playing some Stevie Wonder tunes while Nicholas Nuñez, 26, tapped a hand drum. Knoll had them finish with “Goodnite Sweetheart, Goodnite,” a rhythm and blues hit from the 1950s.
Dixon enjoyed it to the last note, declaring, “Oh, yeah!”
To view the recording of the 25th annual winter concert, a virtual presentation of musical performances and poetry readings by both Anaheim and Laguna Beach program participants, go to the Events tab on creativeidentity-oc.org. The concert includes Dixon singing the songs “Smile” and “The Christmas Song” with jazzy accompaniment by Gilliam.
Source: Orange County Register
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