The CCSC's Care for Creatives project was highlighted in District Fray Magazine's article, "Care for Creatives Offers Mental Health Services to the Arts Community."
In the article, Maryann Lombardi, the Associate Director of DC’s Office of Cable TV, Film, Music and Entertainment (OCTFME) Creative Affairs Office (CAO), and Dr. Mary DeRaedt, Director of the Masters of School Counseling program at the George Washington University, provide information about how the idea and program came about during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The article details why the creative community is at a higher risk for mental health stressors: "Artists, designers, musicians, chefs, performers and a host of other professionals in what have become known as “creative industries” often work under conditions that even in the best of situations can increase susceptibility to mental health risks. ... Long hours, physical and emotional exertion, and a sense of responsibility to be a conduit for others’ emotional experiences can all take a toll. Add struggling to pay rent for studio space and housing – often living project-to-project or depending on income from side jobs – and the creative life, while enriching, can be downright exhausting."
It also provided staggering statistics of how negatively the creative community was affected during the pandemic: "A new report from the Brookings Institute estimates a loss of nearly a third of creative industries jobs and more than $150 billion in sales of goods and services in the sector nationwide, with musicians and those in the performing arts hit the hardest."