Rita Project, Inc.

purpose

WHAT IS RITA PROJECT?
Rita is a movement to stop suicide and to celebrate life. Rita Project is a 501c3 non-profit organization devoted to using the arts to help those who have lost someone to suicide and those who have attempted suicide connect with the power of creating, and in doing so, foster transformation.

PROGRAMS
Our three programs: Rita Studios, Rita Workshops, Rita Exhibitions
- Nurture healing
- Assist with suicide prevention education
- Raise public awareness of the importance of the arts to mental health

Rita Studios
Our Open Art Studios are based on the concept that the creative process involved in the making of art is healing and life enhancing¹, and that survivors benefit from art-based therapy programs. Studios convene weekly and each session lasts two hours. All studio sessions are staffed by an art therapist and a graduate art therapy student assistant. Note: Rita Studio Baltimore is open.

Rita Workshops
Workshops serve as an effective suicide prevention education and crisis intervention tool. We use the arts to help our audience recognize, express, and process emotions, identify means to make health-enhancing choices, appreciate diversity in personal expression, and communicate in a positive way with self and others. Workshops are facilitated by an art therapist.

Rita Exhibitions
Exhibitions are collaborations that provide Studio and Workshop participants with a sense of closure and recognition. In addition, Exhibitions create space for community and dialogue.

HISTORY
Founded by Kim Strouse in 2002, after she lost her sister, Kristin Rita, to suicide. Kristin was seventeen and a freshman at Parsons The New School for Design. Kim was twenty-four.

WHY RITA PROJECT?
- Every 16 minutes in the United States someone dies by suicide²
- Every minute in the United States someone attempts suicide²
- Every year, almost one million people die from suicide; a "global" mortality rate of 16 per 100,000, or one death every 40 seconds.³

¹American Art Therapy Association
²Figures from the National Center for Health Statistics for the year 2006
³World Health Organization

Rita (2006) video, color, sound, 3 minutes, edited by Robert Lopuski