The Red Pencil (Singapore) is a charity which provides art therapy to children in need, especially those from low-income families. Our founder and art therapist Amanda Chen is also an art therapist with The Red Pencil (Singapore) and has been featured in their 2018 Annual Report. An abstraction of the report as below.
Since 2011, The Red Pencil (Singapore) team has been devoted to bring the benefits of arts therapy to many beneficiaries, working with partner organisations and the local art therapists’ community to achieve its objectives and mission and to raise awareness of arts therapy.
The Red Pencil (Singapore) collaborated with talented musicians of the Tang Tee Khoon Grand Series on two private art and music workshops: one in May for children recovering from cancer and another in November for children with special needs and children from underprivileged backgrounds, held at the National Gallery Singapore and the Esplanade respectively. On both occasions, the children created artworks in response to the beautiful tunes performed by the musicians.
The Red Pencil sponsored the art materials used in these private workshops and coordinated the presence of an art therapist as well as art therapy student volunteers from the LASALLE College of the Arts.
We would like to thank all the art therapists who have worked with us for their dedication and commitment to our service users. We asked two of them to share their insights on the art therapy profession. Here is what they have to say:
Healing is a process that continues beyond the art therapy session. The misconception of art therapy is that after the sessions, the client is expected to be all better or completely healed. Some improvements in the mood and behaviour are part of the healing process, but the journey of healing is often a long one.
Amanda Chen on some of the common misconceptions that people often have about art therapy
Amanda Chen