MSO Director of Education and Community Engagement Michelle Kaebisch works directly with music therapists and is partnering with the International Society for the Arts in Healthcare and the Waisman Center to develop and implement a HeartStrings curriculum specifically designed for children with disabilities and to expand our evaluation methods and deepen our understanding of the program's impact on participants and caregivers. Our community partners this season are Attic Angels Place, Central Wisconsin Center, Common Threads, Karmenta Retirement, Madison Area Down Syndrome Society, MARC-South RAC, Oakwood Village West, Oak Park Place, St. Mary's Care Center and the Waisman Center's Early Childhood Program.

The Society for the Arts in Healthcare (SAH) and Johnson & Johnson chose HeartStrings from among 320 international programs to receive a three-year grant, recognizing it as an innovative model program that uses art to advance healing and preventative health. As part of this grant, the MSO is partnering with SAH and the University of Wisconsin Waisman Center to develop a HeartStrings program specifically for children with disabilities and to expand evaluation methods and deepen understanding of the program’s impact on participants and caregivers. Kaebisch will give a presentation on HeartStrings at the Society for the Arts in Healthcare’s 21st international conference. She will speak as part of a consortium of similar programs that receive grants from SAH and Johnson & Johnson. In addition, the National Endowment for the Arts has recognized HeartStrings with three Access to Artistic Excellence Grants, and the MSO was one of only two symphonies in the nation to receive the League of American Orchestra's 2008 MetLife Award for Excellence in Community Engagement.