Bread & Roses HOPE & HEALING THROUGH LIVE MUSIC
Bread & Roses brings healing and hope through live music to hospitalized and rehabilitating patients of the San Francisco Bay Area. Our performances are meant to uplift people’s spirits during challenging times.
Table of Contents Uplifting the mind & spirit
3
The healing power of live music
11
Bringing communities hope & healing
19
Get involved
24
Top Right Hospital patients listen to a Bread & Roses hospital performance. Bottom Right Lenny McFee plays guitar for patients at Laguna Honda Hospital.
Uplifting the
Mind & Spirit
Bread & Roses is dedicated to uplifting the human spirit by providing free, live, quality performances to people who live in institutions or are otherwise isolated from society. Our performances: • •
•
Enrich the soul and promote wellness through the healing power of the performing arts; Create a sense of community for our professional performers in a non-commercial setting in which they can donate their talents to inspire and be inspired by their audiences; Provide an opportunity for non-performing volunteers to contribute a variety of skills and resources that support our humanitarian services and increase the impact of donor contributions.
Bread & Roses seeks to create a social awareness of people who are isolated from society, and to encourage the development of similar organizations in other communities. The audience members we serve do not have the physical, emotional or financial capacity to attend live performances. Their circumstances are such that if the live performance does not come to them, they will not have access to it. Through song and dance, Bread & Roses enhances basic care by giving the healing gifts of love, human contact and support, inspiration and hope. We understand the healing power of live music, and it is our mission to bring it to communities who need it most.
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Changing Lives in the Bay Area The name Bread & Roses is taken from a poem written in 1912 by James Oppenheim on the occasion of a textile strike in Massachusetts at which 10,000 women and children marched against brutal working conditions. Inspired by the poem, singer/songwriter Mimi Farina chose the phrase to convey the spirit of the agency she founded in 1914. Mimi knew that live performance has vital, life-affirming powers, and she dedicated her life to building an organization and a community based on that insight. Her work continues today, aided by hundreds of volunteers, thousands of donors, caring celebrities, and the hearts she touched along the way. Daily Performances Virtually every day of the year, Bread & Roses shares hope and healing through live music that we bring to our most isolated neighbors in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our performances uplift the spirits of children battling cancer, teens battling substance abuse, families in homeless shelters, seniors nearing the end of life transition, and others living apart from friends and family while facing challenging times. While there are others who visit Bay Area facilities with shows and acts of compassion, there is no other organization that systematically brings live entertainment to seniors, adults and children in need.
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COUNTIES SERVED IN THE BAY AREA
2
1
3 6 4 7 5 8
PERCENTAGE OF ANNUAL SHOWS IN EACH COUNTY 1
Sonoma = 1%
4
San Francisco = 29%
7
Alameda = 21%
2
Napa = 1%
5
San Mateo = 5%
8
Santa Clara = 1%
3
Marin = 40%
6
Contra Costa = 2%
A VOLUNTEER’S STORY
Finding Life’s Purpose
Above Marian Hubler, Volunteer Host and Program Director, found Bread & Roses through her love of music. 8 BREAD & ROSES
“Bread & Roses holds a special place in my heart. I volunteer because of the power music has to open hearts and comfort minds.” — M arian Hubler
MARIAN HUBLER, Program Director About twenty years ago, I decided that I wasn’t happy with my corporate office job anymore. I spent all day going to and from a cubicle doing work that I didn’t enjoy. There came a point when I realized that I wanted my life to mean something more than what I was making it. I had been a piano player for almost ten years at that point, and I really wanted to find something that involved music. I initially volunteered to become a host for their shows in the Bay area. I thought it would be fun to do on the weekends and occasionally during the week. Not only did I have the chance to connect with people in need, but I’d also be able to watch outstanding local musicians perform on a regular basis. The first show that I hosted was nothing short of an incredible experience. I watched a woman smile and break down into tears. It was amazing to see the transformation of the audience before my eyes during each show. I knew I had stumbled upon something special. After several years volunteering for Bread & Roses, I decided to take my passion full-time as their Program Director. I can honestly say that I wake up every morning excited to go to work. It’s given my purpose in life, and no longer do I feel that I’m letting life pass me by.
MIND & SPIRIT 9
The healing power of
Live Music
They are our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, neighbors and friends. They live in senior convalescent homes, mental health and AIDS facilities, special needs schools and hospitals. They are found in shelters for the abused or homeless, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers and detention facilities. They often feel lost, alone and abandoned. But when Bread & Roses puts on a show, they come to life. They clap their hands, tap their toes and move to the beat. Like flowers turning to the sun, their eyes light up, they smile, and song along. Sometimes, they even get up and dance. They leave feeling a little lighter, a little brighter. For three decades now, Bread & Roses has been reaching out to people, maybe people that you know, through song, dance, story and more. Our performances bring a kind of simple healing, with benefits that medical research now confirms. It is the healing that comes from letting people know that they are not forgotten and not alone.
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We Believe in Music Therapy Music therapy is the use of music to promote hope and healing and to enhance quality of life. The practice may be used to encourage emotional expression, promote social interaction and relieve symptoms. Music has been used in medicine for thousands of years. Ancient Greek philosophers believed that music could heal both the body and the soul. Native Americans have used singing as part of their healing rituals. The more formal approach to music therapy began in World War II, when hospitals used music therapy to help treat soldiers suffering from shell shock and other injuries. Michigan State University soon established the first music therapy degree in 1944. Medical Benefits Music therapists may use active or passive methods, depending on the patient’s needs and abilities. Music therapists work with a variety of physica, emotional and psychological symptoms. There is supporting evidence, when used with conventional treatment, that music therapy can help reduce pain, heart rate, breathing rate and blood pressure. Many medical experts also believe it can aid in healing, improve physical movement, and enrich a patient’s quality of life. There are no claims that music therapy can cure cancer, but it is often used in cancer treatment to help reduce pain caused by chemotherapy.
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3 2
1
HOW WE PROCESS MUSIC 1
Hearing Stage
2
Feeling Stage
3
Listening Stage
A musical sound and peripheral
Music is filtered through the thalamus,
Sound is intellectualized as it reaches
phenomenon is linked to the ear
relaying sensation, spacial sense and
the temporal lobe centers, the nervous
and the auditory nerve.
motor signals to the cerebral cortex.
system and related mental functions.
Studies in Music Therapy The American Music Therapy Association recently conducted a series of studies to further broaden our understanding of the effects that music has on patients with varying conditions. Study Results: Decreased Symptoms in Music Therapy Patients The experiments confirmed a significant decrease in discomfort and severity of symptoms amongst patients participating in the study group, including insomnia, pain, stress, anxiety, migraines and depression.
INSOMNIA
Study participants reported a 30% reduction in abnormal sleeping patterns.
PAIN
Music helped reduce pain symptoms for 44% of patients after a minor surgery.
STRESS
Almost 60% of a study group noticed a dispersion of stress after music therapy.
ANXIETY
Music therapy induced calming effects for 60% of women with severe anxiety.
MIGRAINES
Music induced deep relaxation in 46% of migraine patients.
DEPRESSION
Severity of symptoms in depression patients decreased 33% with music.
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PAIN
STRESS
INSOMNIA
-30% -44% -59% -60% -46% -33%
DEPRESSION MIGRAINES
ANXIETY
LIVE MUSIC’S HEALING POWER 15
A PERFORMER’S STORY
Connecting a Community
Left Vincent Caulfield plays his guitar for Laguna Honda Hospital patients in San Francisco.
“Thanks to Bread & Roses, I have experienced the healing that takes place when performer and audience meet heart-to-heart.” — Vincent Caulfield
VINCENT CAULFIELD, Guitarist for the Gas Men Over the past ten years or so, playing music has become an increasingly important part of my life. It has brought me closer to the people that I care about, taught me how I want to live my life and gotten me through tough times. Playing music for other people gives me perspective and hope, and I always learn something from my audience whenever I get up to perform with my band. On St. Patrick’s Day, I arrived with my band, the Gas Men, at the Laguna Honda Hospital with a festive green hat and and a variety of instruments. Our band planned to play traditional Irish music for the hospital patients to give them some holiday cheer as they recovered from surgery and underwent rehabilitation. After a friendly crowd settled in their seats, we began to play. Although the audience was quiet at first, they seemed to perk up with every song. A woman in the corner waved her hands in the air and closed her eyes as she listened to the music. Hospital staff put their arms around the patients they sat next to, and I could see both of them start to smile. The show ended with loud clapping and cheering, and an audience that seemed happier than when they initially walked in. I found myself filled with emotion several moments during the show, realizing that there was something special that was happening in this room. That this was not just an hour of playing our instruments, but an exchange of healing at its most simplistic level. I felt our music was connecting a community as we shared something that we all loved.
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TO SING
is to love and affirm, to coast into the hearts of the people that listen, to tell them that beauty exists. — Joan Baez, American Folk Singer
Top Right Clyde plays trumpet for a Bread & Roses audience. Bottom Right Drummers at an outdoor Bread & Roses event.
Bringing isoloated communities
Hope & Healing
Bread & Roses serves isolated individuals of all ages by bringing free, live performances to the facilities in which they reside. These individuals can be economically disadvantaged, physically or mentally disabled, in recovery, or at risk. In recent years, institutionalization has increased. For example, more elders are cared for outside their homes, a greater number of men and women are living with Alzheimer’s, and drug and alcohol addiction continues to be a problem for all ages. Children are institutionalized for an ever-broadening set of social problems, including concerns about their physical safety, dire poverty, medical and/or educational neglect, mental illness, and behavioral problems. Among the many things confined individuals lack is access to the healing power of the arts. Most of the individuals in our audiences have no opportunity other than through a Bread & Roses performance to experience the unique, restorative sensation of being lifted beyond oneself that is possible through the performing arts.
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600 Annual Live Shows Bread and Roses hosts approximately 600 live shows each year in the San Francisco Bay area. Our performers play in a variety of treatment centers, which are represented below.
14% 7% 12% 5% 7%
1%
HIV
DETENTION CENTERS
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SPECIAL NEEDS
HOSPITALS
REHAB CENTERS
CHILD DAY CARE
18% 10% 14% 7%
5%
ELDERLY CARE
SENIOR DAY CARE
MENTAL HEALTH
HOMELESS
DISABLED
HOPE & HEALING 23
A PARTICIPANT’S STORY
Letting Go of the Pain
Left Beth Larksdale listens to the music at a Bread & Roses event at her rehabilitation center. 24 BREAD & ROSES
“Bread & Roses brought me back to a positive place in one of the most difficult periods of my life. They reminded me that beauty still exists.” — B eth Larksdale
BETH LARKSDALE, Hospital Patient I feel lucky to say that I have lived a pretty good life. I found the love of my life at age 20, and we were married for almost 40 years. I had one beautiful daughter, traveled to many places and met some wonderful friends along the way. I met my husband at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, where we both came to dance every Friday. I still remember the music as if it was yesterday. Since then, music and dancing was always a central aspect of our lives. When my husband passed away, and I developed acute arthritis, I lost both my dancing partners and my dancing legs. It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve always tried to maintain a positive spirit. When Bread & Roses visited my rehabilitation hospital, I was so happy to have a chance to listen to live music once again. It didn’t matter what kind of music it was, I made sure I had a front row seat. Although I wasn’t able to dance to the music like I used to with my husband, the show made me forget about my recent misfortune. I was reminded about all the beautiful and positive things that I have been fortunate to have in my life. I closed my eyes, waved my hands in the air and hummed to the music. I saw some people watching me, but I didn’t care, I was happy for the first time in a long while.
HOPE & HEALING 25
Get Involved There is a growing need for the healing Bread & Roses inspires. We need your support and thank you for your generosity. There are many ways you can get involved to support our mission of bringing hope and healing through live music. Visit www.breadandroses.org to learn more about any of the following: Donate We gratefully accept online donations through our secure donation server on our website. Volunteer Volunteers are needed throughout the year for our daily shows, public benefit events and to support our staff. We are looking for performers, show hosts, and event and office volunteers. Attend a Benefit Event Bread & Roses produces public concerts and private events to raise awareness about our mission and to support our program. Send Us Your Stories We are collecting stories from those whose lives have been touched by Bread & Roses.
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233 Tamalpais Drive, Corte Madera, CA 94925 T 415.945.7120 • F 415.945.7128 • www.breadandroses.org 28 BREAD & ROSES