Contacts

The Center for Arts and Wellness is an initiative that has been created to deliver health education to our performing and visual arts students. The College of Visual and Performing Arts at George Mason University, which has given the Center a home, has made a commitment to providing education on health, wellness, and performance enhancement as an integral part of the education of our musicians, artists, dancers, and actors, whether they go on to become performers or teachers.

For too long, performing artists have entered the profession with idealism and high ambitions to fulfill themselves, only to find that they have also entered a profession filled with stress, occupational hazards, and the constant risk of overuse injuries. Musicians, as perhaps no others besides dancers, invest immense amounts of time, energy, and money to achieve professional levels of performance, only to experience, as so many have, the injuries, stress burnout, and overwhelming stage fright that cut short promising careers.

We believe that by incorporating health training as a required element into our degree programs, we deliver the right message: health training and stress immunization are not optional—not electives—but are integral parts of a process that makes it possible for musicians to achieve and sustain their highest levels of performance.

Linda Miller, Executive Director
David Sternbach, Research Director
Phone: 703-993-1389
William Reeder, Dean
College of Visual & Performing Arts

Center for Arts & Wellness
4400 University Drive
MS 4C1
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
Center: 703-993-8625
Fax: 703-993-8883

site update: March 14, 2007