I am Kunle Adewale, founder and creative art director of Tender Arts Nigeria, a non-profit organization that uses art therapy to improve the life and health outcomes of children and young people.
As a visual artist, I am driven by passion to serve humanity with my highest potential. Over the years, I have used Art as a form of therapy for children and young adults living with cancer, sickle cell disease, and autism as well as with child survivors of Boko Haram terror attacks in Nigeria.
My creative engagement has benefited more than 15,000 people in the last four years in Nigeria.
Driven by passion for alternative intervention in healthcare practices in Africa, I’m using art to bridge the huge gap that exists between healthcare professionals and their patients.
The intention of my art therapy-led initiative is to create a platform, where health professionals and artists collaborate in transforming the hospital and healthcare center experience for their clients through creative engagement.
In this vein, I founded the first art therapy center in West Africa in collaboration with Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria, and the aim is to transform health care and the hospital experience for patients and their caregivers.
Since our inception, more than 200 persons living with sickle cell disease have benefited from my Arts in Medicine program at the National Sickle Cell Centre Nigeria.
Inspired by my work, the directors of Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida, College of Arts have invited me to be a part of their 2017 summer program. There, I would learn the best practices of arts in medicine from a global perspective and be able to apply it to my professional work in Nigeria.
My expectation is to see that every hospital and healthcare facility in Africa has a creative and safe space, where patients and caregivers can heal through art and have their healthcare experience transformed through creativity.
Kunle with patients in Nigeria. Photo credit: Kunle Adewale
In the words of Mother Teresa, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
Dear friends, I solicit your support for my trip to Florida for the Arts in Medicine program, and all funds will be used to cover my travel.
You can support me with your financial donation, at my GoFundMe page.
In advance, thank you for your support!
