This site is hosted by the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, USA.
OTHER MECC ACTIVITIES
Tracy's Kids International Art Exchange Exhibit
“The Day I Will Never Forget…,” an international art exchange exhibit, is a collaborative effort, sponsored by Tracy’s Kids Pediatric Art Therapy Program, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC). The exhibit contains works of art created by pediatric hematology-oncology patients and family members at hospitals and clinics in the U.S., Jordan, Israel, Egypt, and Turkey. Tracy’s Kids is a non-profit organization affiliated with Georgetown University Medical Center’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. MECC was begun in 1996 with NCI assistance and has as its members Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and Turkey.
A 7-year-old leukemia patient in Istanbul, Turkey, drew this
image, which is part of the exhibit. The artist explained,
"This is the picture of the 23rd of April. I danced with my
classmates. I will never forget that day."
As a result of the exhibit’s success at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland earlier this year, the exhibit traveled to Ireland in May. Beginning May 12, 2009, the show was spotlighted as part of the CANCER 2009 International Cancer Conference, facilitated by Professor Mark Lawler, director of Post Graduate Teaching and Learning at St. James’s Hospital in Dublin and Strategic Advisory Group member of the Ireland-Northern Ireland-NCI Cancer Consortium. Aziza Shad, MD, Lombardi's chief of pediatric hematology/oncology, blood, and bone marrow transplantation, and Tracy Councill, director of Lombardi’s Art and Play Therapy Program, were guest speakers at the CANCER 2009 International Cancer Conference.
Click the links below to view selected artworks from each theme featured in the International Art Exchange exhibit.
Following its stop in Ireland, the show will tour the Middle East, opening officially on November 11, 2009 at the Opera House in Tel Aviv, under the patronage of the US Ambassador to Israel, Mr. James Cunningham and his wife. At the beginning of December, the exhibit will move to the Sheba Medical Center (the largest in the Middle East). In January, it will move to the Schneider Children's Hospital, Beilinson Medical Center and thereafter, to Haifa at the Museum of Arts. For more information, please contact Ms. Isabel Otero at isotero@mail.nih.gov. For additional information on the Tracy's Kids Art Therapy Program, visit http://tracyskids.org.
