NEW YORK, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, an internationally recognized contemporary dance company, has been awarded a MetLife Foundation grant for $125,000 to create the MetLife Foundation Healthy Living Initiative at Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. This national program is designed to meet the growing demand for the skilled integration of art and artistic methods into the medical and health/wellness fields.

Arts integration improves the quality of the healthcare experience for patients, their families, and the health professionals who serve them. Accredited healthcare institutions with arts programs have reported benefits such as shorter hospital stays, less medication, and fewer complications. The MetLife Foundation Healthy Living Initiative at Dance Exchange incorporates three activities to expand access to arts programs for patients nationwide, including: artistic work with patients in healthcare settings, training of health professionals and caregivers in innovative artistic tools, and professional development for teaching artists who work with patients and caregivers.

"We are proud to partner with the Dance Exchange on this innovative arts in healthcare effort," said Dennis White, president and CEO of MetLife Foundation. "Our partnership on the Healthy Living Initiative is an extension of our commitment to making arts accessible to all and promoting dance as an art form that can enrich all our lives through creativity and excellence."

"This generous support from MetLife Foundation will add a new chapter to our ongoing exploration of the question 'Who gets to dance?'" said Liz Lerman, Founding Artistic Director of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and author of Teaching Dance to Senior Adults. "Sometimes art achieves what therapy, medicine, or the best care of health professionals cannot. Sometimes art even achieves something that's beyond the best intentions of the artist."

About Liz Lerman Dance Exchange

Liz Lerman founded Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in 1976. Its unique brand of dance/theatre breaks boundaries between stage and audience, theater and community, movement and language, tradition and the unexplored. Through explosive dancing, personal stories, humor, and a company of performers whose ages span six decades, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange stretches the expressive range of contemporary dance. Its work consists of formal concerts, interactive performances, specialized community residencies, and professional training in the art of community-based dance. An artist-driven organization, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange employs a collaborative approach to dance making, administration, and implementation. Representing the multiple artistic voices of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, current choreographic projects include explorations of coal mining, sustainable energy, genetic research, radical prayer, human rights, particle physics and geology. For more information, please visit www.danceexchange.org.

About MetLife Foundation

MetLife Foundation was established by MetLife to continue the company's long tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. The Foundation supports programs that improve education, promote health, encourage parental involvement and family engagement, help revitalize neighborhoods and stress accessibility and inclusion. The Foundation contributes to arts and cultural organizations across the United States, with an emphasis on increasing opportunities for young people, reaching broad audiences through inclusive programming, and making arts more accessible for all people. For more information about the Foundation, please visit its web site at www.metlife.org.

    Media Contacts:

    Sarah Faria, MetLife
    401-827-3906
    sfaria@metlife.com

    Ben Eiserike, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange
    (301) 270-6700 ext. 13
    beiserike@danceexchange.org

    MetLife Foundation Contact:
    Rohit Burman,
    212-578-3194,
    rburman@metlife.com

SOURCE MetLife Foundation