Discovery Arts Celebrates 25 Years of Service for Hospitalized Children

Discovery Arts, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is celebrating it’s 25th year of service for hospitalized children who are undergoing treatment for cancer and other life threatening illness.
  
This year marks Discovery Art’s 25th year of service of providing Arts Adventure Programs to children who are in the hospital undergoing treatment for cancer, serious blood disorders or life threatening illness. The 501(c)(3) non-profit  organization was created in 1993 by a group of dedicated arts and entertainment industry professionals who began volunteering their time and talents to bring dance, music, drama and art to children during their hospital stay.
 

Discovery Arts' commemorative logo for 25 years of service to children who are in the hospital.

In celebration of their 25th anniversary Discovery Arts is promoting their “Circle of Friends” Partnership.  “Circle of Friends” is a monthly donation of $25 that will ensure one child will receive a customized Bedside Adventure Kit, a Costume, and a Keepsake Photo, plus much more. 

Discovery Arts now provides their programs to more than 3,500 critically ill children each year in six Southern California hospitals and in 2009 they began a “pilot program” for hospitalized children  in Springfield, MO. Each week the dedicated “Cast & Crew” of Discovery Arts Staff and Volunteers bring a parade of fun, laughter and “Arts Adventures” for the children at Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA, Millers Children’s Hospital Long Beach, Jonathan Jaques Children’s Center at Millers, CHOC Children’s Hospital, Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, CHOC at Mission and also at Mercy Children’s Hospital in Springfield, MO.

Discovery Arts was co-founded by President, Don Harper and Executive Director, Marilyn Clements.  For the first several years, they worked informally with the children hospitalized at Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center at Millers Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Long Beach, California.  Based on the success of their programs and the positive responses from the medical staff, the children and their families, Discovery Arts was formally incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in 1998 with the mission of expanding the delivery of their “Arts Adventures” Programs to many more children in hospitals throughout Southern California.
 
All of Discovery Arts’ programs are offered free of charge for the hospitals, patients and their families.  They rely on the generosity of individuals, monthly donors, corporations, private foundations, community partners, a committed circle of private donors, art supply manufacturers and an enthusiastic corps of volunteers, to help provide their “Arts Adventures” to these often forgotten children. 

“We have found that these very sick children all share one wish...‘to be normal.’ Anything we can do to make their journey a little easier or a little brighter is our greatest wish. It is a privilege to serve these wonderful children and their families each and every week, all year long.  We are truly honored to be a welcomed partner with our hospitals, medical staff, parents and the children,” states Marilyn Clements, Discovery Arts' Co-Founder and Executive Director, “25 years have gone quickly and we look forward to many more!” 

Click here to Join Discovery Arts’ Circle of Friends

ABOUT DISCOVERY ARTS
Discovery Arts is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that brings the healing power of the arts to children with cancer, serious blood disorders, and life threatening illness while they are in the hospital receiving treatment. Discovery Arts' mission is to insure that each child has the opportunity to forget about the obvious horrors and circumstance of cancer or life threatening illness. Discovery Arts began serving children in a small 14 bed unit at Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center at Millers. They now serve more than 3500 children and their families each year, providing nine programs in six southern California hospitals. Their first step out of California and into the nation, began in 2009 with a program at Mercy Children's Hospital in Springfield, Missouri.
 
For children who are too ill to participate in their group programs, a Discovery Arts crew member brings the magic directly to a child’s bedside for their very own Arts Adventure with a “Bedside Adventure Kit.” These custom made packaged kits are filled with a variety of age appropriate art materials and fun creative projects. Each and every child receives a Bedside Adventure Kit, additional kits are also provided to the hospitals for children to enjoy when Discovery Arts is not on site. Additionally, each time Discovery Arts arrives, every child receives a costume, that they get to keep, plus trophies, keepsake photos and much more.
 
Discovery Arts brings more than just a smile to children with cancer or life threatening illness. Their Arts Adventures give these precious children a chance to get out of bed, laugh, create, feel good about themselves, and for the moment, just be a child.
 
Don Harper, President and Co-Founder of Discovery Arts
Don Harper composes music for film, television and the stage.  Don composed the score for Disney’s Lion King 1.5 DVD release and for the animated television series, The Legend of Tarzan.  Mr. Harper’s  work can also be heard in feature films such as G-Force, National Treasure & National Treasure 2, The Guardian, Texas Rangers, Armageddon and The Rock; in the TV film Houdini; and in the series The Magnificent Seven.  An accomplished orchestrator and conductor, Harper has contributed to such films as Jack Frost, Twister, Speed and Disney’s animated feature, Tarzan.  Don Harper also arranges, composes and produces music for live venues worldwide, including Sight & Sound Theatre’s musical production; Joseph, Tokyo DisneySea’s, Nighttime Halloween Parade and Disneyland’s fireworks spectacular Believe – There’s Magic in the Stars.
 
Marilyn Clements, Vice President, Executive Director, Co-founder of Discovery Arts 
As Executive Director, Ms. Clements manages all day-to-day operations of the agency, as well as personally visiting the hospitals each week as one of the primary Discovery Arts Adventure artists. With more than forty years of professional experience, she has choreographed and directed numerous special events and theatrical productions that include Pope John Paul II’s visit to Los Angeles at the LA Memorial Coliseum, Radio City Music Hall's, "Magnificent Christmas Spectacular" in New York, The Joe Gibbs Special Event at Kennedy Center with an array of Celebrities that include Bob Hope and President and Mrs. Bush. She has worked extensively for the Walt Disney Company, and also choreographed for Disney at the N.A.R.M. Convention for the Disney Record and Video Divisions, to mention a few.