Because we believe that we can all use more music and arts in our lives, TAO matches artists with eager audiences at area facilities.

• We share the joy of the arts with older adults with a variety of chronic and debilitating conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease.
• We design programs for women and teens in crisis, so they can discover creative outlets for healthy self-expression. Our artists listen, encourage and appreciate the creativity in the people they serve.
• Our goal is to give our artists the knowledge and tools they need to create safe, effective, inspirational programs that help to alleviate burdens, bring hope and create happiness and healing.
• In order to follow our mission, we work with therapists who specialize in recreation, music and the arts; geriatric specialists from the EVMS Glennan Center, nursing home administrators, social workers and medical professionals.

TAO is always evolving.

We are creating new tools for the arts and healthcare communities along with programming ideas for a variety of special needs populations. We continually assess the needs and goals of the various facilities where we send artists, accommodations for people with physical disabilities, and more. Additionally, we anticipate involving consultants from the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, area artists, activities and medical professionals, in our work on an on-going basis.

We at TAO cannot stress enough – without the generosity of hundreds of talented and caring artists in our community, TAO would cease to exist. We work day in and day out to create the best possible organization for these individuals, and for those we serve.

We want to provide TAO artists with regular opportunities to collaborate and connect with one another, and to learn from industry experts.  To that end we plan several events and workshops each year, to which our artists, supporters and facility partners are invited. We have created an online groups page on FaceBook, where artists can post their events and information, using this page to connect with other TAO artists and see what others are doing.