for English

2009-07-01T10:04:22Z

About THCA Japan

The Total Health Care for Artists Japan (THCA Japan) is the initiative in Japan to provide artists with various health care supports, to establish their profession as artists, and to promote development of the arts medicine and science field. According to the population census (2000), there are 270,000 survey respondents who identified themselves "artists". It may be a public notion that artists generally lead a happy life in the limelight. However, this notion does not reflect the reality. Most artists actually face many challenges pertaining to their work and health, which obstructs establishment and development of artists' career. There are three major issues which are deep-seated in the society.

First, most artists earn quite low income under the very poor system of employment and of social security. Therefore, their talent and effort are seldom rewarded despite their special skills and hard work.

Second, incidence of injuries caused by their occupation is very high, especially in the dance field. What is worse, the medical expenses for their treatment are quite expensive since insurance mostly never covers costs for rehabilitation and body conditioning. There is also little compensation for the injured artists. Therefore, they often cannot afford to take care of their bodies, in spite of the fact that healthy body is an essential condition for artists.

Third, artists require specialized health care to prevent and overcome injuries and to improve their performance just like athletes. However, the field of arts medicine and science has not been fully established in Japan so that artists and students are still struggling with finding appropriate information and treatment, working through their injuries. Therefore, accumulation of information and research in arts medicine and science is essential to develop the field and improve this situation.

"Invigorate Japanese art community! Enrich Japanese society with arts and culture!"

Thus, the THCA Japan is determined to support artists in terms of health care to develop their talent, establish their profession as professional artists, develop the arts medicine and science field, and prolong artists' career. We hope this project will also contribute to enrichment of our life and bring the bright future to not only artistic circles but also the entire Japanese society.

Activities

1. Seminars
Hold health care seminars to artists, educators, and medical practitioners.
The aims of these seminars are providing proper information and knowledge and raising awareness about the importance of artists' health care to prevent injuries and improve their performance/activities.

2. Grant making for artists' health care
Award medical or body-conditioning expenses to artists who especially need health care support to overcome their injuries. We also provide appropriate information, match allied health care professionals for the injured, and check the progression in this process. This grant is designed to widely enlighten artists the importance of health care.

3. Support for clinical research and Information sharing
Promote research in the art medicine and science field and hold conferences to share the research findings.

Representative of THCA Japan:

Yoshio Miyama
(Director, Research Center for the Arts and Arts Administration, Keio University)

Our Activity Plan (outline)

The year of 2004
# Had study group meetings.

# Collected and organized information and data.
# Shared ideas.

The year of 2005
# Prepared for founding THCA Japan.

1. Seminars
# Observed several health care workshops for artists held by other institutions.
# Planned and prepared for the March health care seminar (2006).

2. Grant making for artists' health care
# Selected an injured dancer, provided him with information about body care and rehabilitation, introduced an athletic trainer, and also granted treatment and conditioning expenses for him.
# Asked him to talk about his experience through this process to educate other artists at THCA healthcare seminars in 2006.

The year of 2006-2009

1. Seminars
# March: Annual health care seminar for performing artists
# Spring:Regular workshop/seminar
# Summer: Seminar for dancers and allied health care professionals
# Fall:Regular workshop/seminar

2. Grant making for artists' health care
# Accept applications for grant anytime during the year.
# Select 3 injured artists at the maximum for grant.
# Provide information, introduce proper allied health care professionals, and grant treatment and conditioning expenses for them.
# Asked them to talk about their experiences through the process to educate other artists at THCA healthcare seminars.

3. Support for clinical research and Information sharing
# Carry out medical examination and body screening tests for artists at the annual health care seminar, collect and analyze the data, and present the result at seminars and conferences.
# Keep collecting information about allied health care professionals who can provide proper treatment and/or rehabilitation programs for artists with enough knowledge. Make the database with the information.
# Attend the annual conference of the IADMS(International Association for Dance Medicine and Science) to share our information and network with others.

for English | NPO法人芸術家のくすり箱 Total Health Care for Artists Japan |

for English

for English | NPO法人芸術家のくすり箱　Total Health Care for Artists Japan |