The Art of Elysium was so proud to participate in the Teen Impact Retreat in El Capitan Canyon this year! Teen Impact is a program at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles for teens with cancer or other blood diseases. Teen Impact gives teens with cancer a chance to make new friends, share life experiences and participate in fun activities. The Art of Elysium provided activities in the following disciplines at the retreat: ACTING/ IMPROVISATION (led by Justin Baldoni, Brian Guest & Melissa Ordway), DRUM CIRCLE (led by Aaron Embry, Nikki Embry & Sandy Hogberg), GRAFFITI ART (led by Kyle Thomas & Russell Young), HIP HOP DANCING (led by Susan Linville), KNITTING (led by Suss & Hannah Cousins), MARTIAL ARTS (led by Mary Ellon Lyon), PHOTOGRAPHY (led by George Augusto) and YOGA (led by Kelly Wood). We are so grateful to all of our incredible volunteers. We worked with 239 teens and young adults that weekend! A special thank you to our volunteer coordinator Natasha Andres, Nicole Blum for the music mix and Daniel Saland and the Teen Impact Staff for including us in this incredible event!! We look forward to next year's retreat!!

Endeavor and The Art of Elysium hosted a Spring Holiday party for all of the inpatient children and families at Chidrens Hospital Los Angeles in April. Agents from the talent agency along with our volunteer artists provided face painting, music and arts & crafts (spring gardens on paper plates and model magic picture holders). All of the children were greeted by a Spring Bunny and were gifted special spring baskets, which were also distributed to children in the inpatient area and their siblings. A very special thank you to Emily McMahon and the Endeavor group of agents and talent. We were thrilled to serve 450 children that day!

On Saturday, June 2nd, The Art of Elysium participated in Kaiser Permanente - Sunset's annual Pediatric Hematology/ Oncology Summer Picnic for families at Griffith Park's Traveltown. We worked with over 150 children and families to provide music, art activities and face painting. It was an exciting day as children painted their own whistles and created their own fans to help with the heat. There wasn't a face in the crowd without a butterfly, superhero or animal design. The Art of Elysium continues to provide weekly services to the children and families at Kaiser Permanente Sunset in the inpatient pediatric care unit and the outpatient hematology/ oncology clinic.

Yo Lo Tengo! is a self esteem program established at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles with The Art of Elysium to help school-age/ adolescent boys who have facial disfigurement and scarring due to medical conditions and trauma. Each boy attends an 8-week course designed to teach social skills, decrease depression and anxiety, increase body image and self-esteem. On June 5, the six members of Yo Lo Tengo! had the opportunity to learn how to mix beats and scratch records with the help of DJ Grant Shapiro (DJ Radius). As Grant showed the boys a taste of "club life" they all quickly developed their own DJ personality and ended the night with a quick performance for their families. We will continue to provide artistic workshops for the Yo Lo Tengo! program every Tuesday until June 24th.

"I am writing this letter to express my strong support and profound gratitude to The Art of Elysium in providing both music and visual arts to the children and families at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles in our inpatient pediatric unit, pediatric intensive care unit, and our outpatient pediatric hematology/ oncology clinic. The staff has expressed their appreciation and awe of the service provided by this program. The Art of Elysium has only been with us for a short time but their impact is grand. The evidence of this impact is seen by staff wanting to switch children's clinic days to Fridays when they come and children, families, and staff looking for the people in the "angel shirts" who play music and do art. It is important for you to know that we are a hospital that has not received much support in this area up to this point. Thus, the magnitude of The Art of Elysium far exceeds the words that are captured in this letter. Stories are powerful reminders of the impact we have in peoples lives. I share this next story with you to further illustrate why The Art of Elysium is so invaluable to our children and families. There was an 11 year old boy who was in the hospital more than he was home. He was diagnosed with an undifferentiated Leukemia making it difficult to treat and fight his Cancer. When The Art of Elysium started coming to Kaiser this child looked forward to their visits and listening to the music being played. It was recognized by the program coordinator of The Art of Elysium and a staff members that this child had a deep interest in music, playing the guitar, and that music helped him to cope with what was occurring in his care. Therefore, guitar lessons were set up for him in the hospital. Although he never made it to the lessons the thought and care of giving him access to music even in the hospital was deeply significant. When the family was told that their child would not beat his Cancer and was dying, The Art of Elysium was contacted. They responded quickly and came to play music giving this child and his family a gift of comfort and peace in a time of deep sorrow. I share all these words with you today to express my gratitude and thanks for your invaluable addition to what we provide for children and their families. It is our hope and strong desire to see you expand in both our inpatient and outpatient settings. Again, thank you for all you provide to our children and families!"

As the The Art of Elysium grows, we are able to invite more amazing artists than ever before to come share their talent and creativity with the children we serve. On February 21st we were excited to have Ben Loiz and Carolina Chavez from Neenoon come out to Shriners Hospital for Children to lead a collaborative art workshop with 14 children and their parents. Ben and Carolina own an art and design studio in Los Angeles and have been working together since 2002. They bring years of creative experience and workshop ideas for the children which combine drawing, painting, music, poetry, printmaking, photography, the concepts of abstract art and composition. On February 21st Ben and Carolina offered each child and parent an opportunity to choose their own medium (colored pencils, water color paints, and/or crayons) for their artwork. Everyone was given a blank piece of paper to begin creating their own vision. Every 10 minutes each person passed their unfinished artwork to the person on the right of them. At the end of the two hour workshop we were surprised at the results. The collective vision of everyone at the workshop showed through in each piece of art! Ben and Carolina are currently collaborating with The Art of Elysium on a mural design for Shriners Hospital for Children.

The bracelet will be available through June 2008 and makes a great gift for you or someone you LOVE!! A very special thank you to our Ambassador, EVA MENDES. We love you and are so grateful for everything you continue to do for us!