About Claire and Arts in Health

Claire de Boer holds a great reverence for the potential of the performing, visual and participatory arts to support health and well-being. She served as founding director of Center Stage Arts in Health and director of The Doctors Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine at Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine for almost fifteen years. Interested in efficiency and resource sharing, she helped found the National Organization for Arts in Health in 2016, and served as its second president. Some of her areas of focus within the field of Arts in Health include best practice sharing, funding structure, evaluation strategies, and artist in health training.

In September of 2024 Claire plunged into the waters of working in her own capacity as an LLC, with a strong conviction that besides within hospitals, there is a call for arts in health outside these walls, in community settings. Her current projects include directing a community film festival, facilitating art exhibit opportunities for refugee and immigrant communities, and developing art programs for senior populations.

Claire’s educational background includes a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University, and a Master’s in Global and International Education from Drexel University.

The work of CdB Arts in Health is guided by several tenets:

  1. Purposefully selected arts engagements help people feel seen, increase social cohesion, and bring joy to our lives.

  2. Art by regional artists fosters connection in myriad ways.

  3. Professional artists must be compensated for rendering professional services.

  4. Many talented artists have not been afforded opportunities to gain academic degrees, join mainstream arts organizations, or show their work in high-profile locations. It is my honor and my responsibility to identify and uphold these artists and their work.

    Claire’s art forms include fibers, textiles and mixed media. She spends many of her creative hours in her SheShed, created mostly from repurposed components of old buildings. Claire is an endurance open-water swimmer, as well as a cycling, hiking and, most recently, skijoring enthusiast.