Midwest Arts in Healthcare Network

A regional network based in the Twin Cities

MAIHN’s historical About page dates its founding to 2006 and places its base in Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Its stated region included Minnesota, western Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota and northern Iowa. The network connected people working in healthcare, the arts, education and community settings.

Individual membership encompassed artists, physicians, nurses, therapists, administrators, researchers, educators and students. Organizational membership extended to hospitals, community clinics, colleges, arts organizations, foundations and other institutions. This breadth made MAIHN a meeting point for different professions and organizations interested in arts and health.

Sources: [1].

Meetings, directories and exchange

The historical membership programme offered public and member-only directories, meeting records, announcements and discussion forums. Members could participate in elections and volunteer roles, attend events and shows, or be featured as artists on the website. Separate artist and organization directories reflected the network’s mix of individual practice and institutional programmes.

Its resource pages described literary, performing and visual arts, together with design, as activities used in healthcare and community environments for expression, learning and therapeutic purposes. The network’s role was to connect practitioners and share ideas across these settings; the membership description does not document a single MAIHN clinical treatment programme.

Sources: [2], [7].

A documented community connection

A City of Edina press release dated 1 September 2010 identified the Edina Art Center as a MAIHN member. It described the centre’s arts-in-healthcare outreach and a community fundraiser benefiting the Art Center, Fairview Auxiliary and Edina Public Art Committee.

The municipal record provides an independently dated example of the network’s reach into local arts and healthcare communities. It supports the historical membership relationship without making the fundraiser itself a MAIHN-organized event.

Sources: [3].

Changes announced in 2014 and 2015

On 9 November 2014, MAIHN announced a move to a less formal structure after 20 November. Its officers explained that they had reviewed the existing arrangements and wanted a format better suited to networking. They sought a volunteer to set up and moderate a Facebook or Google group.

A further announcement on 22 December 2014 proposed monthly meetings, alternating between Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and Bethesda Hospital’s Gallery Cafe in Saint Paul. The first meeting was scheduled for 15 January 2015. A January 2015 homepage notice directed readers to Google Groups for news.

These dated notices describe a change in how the network intended to communicate and meet. They do not establish a successor organization or a current meeting calendar. The earlier website’s membership forms and schedules belong to that historical record.

Sources: [4], [5], [6].

Sources

1. MAIHN: historical About page, founding year and regional membership (maihn.org)
2. MAIHN: historical individual and organizational membership description (maihn.org)
3. City of Edina: Taste of Creativity press release, 1 September 2010 (edinadocs.edinamn.gov)
4. MAIHN: restructuring announcement, 9 November 2014 (maihn.org)
5. MAIHN: monthly meetings announcement, 22 December 2014 (maihn.org)
6. MAIHN: historical homepage with January 2015 Google Groups notice (maihn.org)
7. MAIHN: historical arts and health resources description (maihn.org)
8. nccih.nih.gov: health background for Dementia (nccih.nih.gov)