Inspire Arts – Offering creative hope to brain injury survivors

Today Magazine Online
Jul 28
5 min read

Updated: Oct 24

• Gifted Artists Find Calling via Unique TBI Program

By Bruce William Deckert

Editor-in-Chief • Today Magazine Online

"Traumatic brain injury" — when juxtaposed, these three words comprise a sobering phrase.

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"Inspire" and "arts" — these two words seem more hopeful than the stand-alone terms "traumatic" and "injury" — and when the terms "inspire" and "arts" are juxtaposed, perhaps the hope can multiply.

Let's take this impromptu Juxtaposed Word Game one step further via the following question: What happens when the phrases "traumatic brain injury" and "inspire arts" meet and shake hands and even become friends? Granted, such a friendship might be unlikely, and surely seems paradoxical.

Yet a unique program rooted in Connecticut's Farmington Valley offers an answer — and if you're guessing this program is called Inspire Arts, you are spot-on correct.

Inspire Arts is an offering of The Supported Living Group, a private social-service agency that provides support services for vulnerable Connecticut residents "who are navigating the challenges of autism, aging in the community and life after brain injury," says SLG executive director Jamie Arber — "we provide nonmedical community-based support opportunities, helping our service participants live as independently and meaningfully as possible in their own homes."

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“Creativity was a strong value in my family … I have four older siblings who were important influences for me — they encouraged me to follow my passion and not worry about money” — Rebecca Maloney • Inspire Arts senior manager

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The Supported Living Group (aka SLG) is based in Danielson, Connecticut, with two other locations in Avon and Bethany. The Inspire Arts operation exists at the Avon and Bethany locations — 20 client artists participate in the program Monday through Friday, 12 in Avon and eight in Bethany, though the number varies depending on the day.

Arber established Inspire Arts in March 2021, and he says the SLG program has served about 35 artists overall since then. Rebecca Maloney is the Inspire Arts senior manager, based in Avon. The Bethany location has two art program coordinators: Tyler Horta and June Maselli.

The mission of Inspire Arts is to give dedicated support to artists living with disabilities and to encourage their creative expression, with a corollary goal of helping these talented virtuosos achieve greater independence and a deeper sense of purpose in the community at large.

Maloney's LinkedIn page describes her SLG creative work as "a unique and collaborative open studio art program which supports individuals successfully living with acquired brain injuries.”

Her artistic journey has been a family-inspired enterprise, befitting the “inspire” component of the Inspire Arts nomenclature.

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"Creativity was a strong value in my family as I grew up," Maloney tells Today Online. "I have four older siblings who were important influences for me — they encouraged me to follow my passion and not worry about money. ... I also had the privilege of parents who were very encouraging — they didn't put questions in my mind about what was possible."

Maloney has a bachelor of fine arts (aka BFA) from Montserrat College of Art, one of New England's most well-regarded undergraduate art schools. Montserrat is based in the city of Beverly, Massachusetts — on the North Shore, about 20 miles northeast of Boston.

"As I grew up, art was the only school subject that interested me," she says. "I had a high-school art teacher who told me: You're really good at this — have you thought about pursuing art as a career? I said: That's for people who are really gifted — and she said: You are ... That's what planted the idea of an art career in my mind."

A native of Connecticut, Maloney was raised in Manchester and graduated from Manchester High School in 1999.

"At Montserrat, I had the best time of my life," she says. "I realized there are avenues for art, and I can find my way — I can relate to the Alice in Wonderland story. I went through this journey, and as college progressed, I thought: Maybe I can use art as a compass and kind of make my way.”

Maloney is currently a resident of West Hartford. These days, her primary artistic mediums are collage and painting. Regarding the creative process, does Maloney reckon that a Creator is the source of human creativity?

"Yes," she answers readily. "I'm not an atheist — I definitely believe there's a divine source. I believe in God. I believe there's a higher power."

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“I can relate to the Alice in Wonderland story — I went through this journey, and as college progressed, I thought: Maybe I can use art as a compass and kind of make my way” — Rebecca Maloney

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A traumatic brain injury (aka TBI) can occur in a variety of painful ways — such as motor-vehicle accidents, catastrophic falls, severe strokes, violent assaults and military combat.

Another arena where a TBI can transpire is the world of sports. A sports mishap — especially connected to football, rugby, hockey and boxing — is clearly associated with TBI risk.

By the way, while the arts and sports worlds may seem incongruous and dissimilar, the deeper reality is that these realms share inherent grandeur and greatness connected to our common human experience.

Athletes sometimes exhibit such creativity and artistry and graceful movement that their performances are described in classic artistic terms — for example, an athlete can metaphorically paint a masterpiece or display poetry in motion.

In this sense, the arts and sports realms are interwoven and interconnected.

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The art exhibit is of course a time-honored element of the fine-arts world, and artists connected to Inspire Arts have displayed their work at the following Connecticut exhibition venues: Avon Public Library, Brookfield Craft Center, 224 EcoSpace in Hartford, Open Studios Hartford, Simsbury Public Library, Vernon-based Arts Center East and Work_Space in Manchester — and at the Art Enables gallery in Washington D.C.

This August, the Inspire Arts group participated in another art show — the Confident Embrace exhibit at Kalaveshi Arts Studio-Gallery in Avon, in the Riverdale Farms commercial plaza, serendipitously located across the street from The Supported Living Group on Simsbury Road aka Route 10.

This curated exhibition sharing the creative work of Connecticut brain injury survivors was co-hosted by Kalaveshi Arts and the Brain Injury Alliance of Connecticut.

The Supported Living Group is headquartered in Danielson, a borough in the town of Killingly in northeastern Connecticut near the intersection of U.S. Route 6 and Interstate 395. The two other locations for this noteworthy enterprise are as follows:

• Avon — a north-central Connecticut town in the heart of the Farmington Valley about 10 miles west of Hartford following U.S. Route 44 •

• Bethany — a southeastern Connecticut town about 10 miles north of New Haven following state Route 63 +

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• This article is the first in a series:

Part 2: Inspirational Initiative – Exclusive Q&A with Inspire Arts principals

Part 3: Tale of 2+2 Artists – Inspire Arts foursome add creativity to injury

Bruce Deckert is a multi-award-winning journalist who believes all people merit awards when we leverage our God-given gifts for good

Featuring community news that matters nationwide, Today Magazine and Today Online aim to record Connecticut’s underreported upside — covering the heart of the Farmington Valley and beyond

Inspire Arts – Offering creative hope to brain injury survivors

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