Where Art Meets Healing: Transformative Events That Uplift Communities

Healing Art Together events are powerful community gatherings that blend creativity, connection, and healing in meaningful ways. Whether it’s a hands-on workshop, an art exhibit, or a full-day conference, these events provide safe and inspiring spaces where individuals can express themselves, process emotions, and find support. Rooted in the belief that art is a catalyst for transformation, each event invites people of all backgrounds to explore the healing power of painting, storytelling, music, and movement. Participants leave feeling uplifted, connected, and equipped with new tools for emotional well-being. In communities where access to mental health resources may be limited, these events fill a critical gap—offering not only creative expression but also hope, visibility, and a renewed sense of purpose.

Wear Teal for Shannan – Celebrating Life, Love, and Legacy

Every September during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, we gather at Hempstead Lake State Park for something special: Wear Teal for Shannan. It’s our annual walk honoring Shannan’s beautiful, vibrant life—and trust me, it’s anything but somber. We walk. We dance. We celebrate the kind of high energy that was so unmistakably Shannan.

These photos are from our 2025 walk, and you can feel the love in every frame. Participants get delicious food, gift bags, and most importantly—community. This is how we keep Shannan’s light alive: by coming together, wearing teal, and refusing to let grief be the only story. Shannan lived boldly, and we honor her the same way.

Community Workshops & Exhibits – Where Healing Meets Creativity

Elmont Library Workshop & Exhibit: Janine McCray-Booker

In March 2025, HAT co-founder and artist Janine McCray-Booker presented a workshop and exhibit at Elmont Library — sharing her personal journey with grief through her art, and the story of how creativity became her way of staying in conversation with her daughter, Shannan.

Through an interactive exercise, Janine guided attendees back to a place many of us haven’t visited in years: the free, unguarded creativity of childhood, before art became something to get “right.”

The event drew 40 attendees spanning generations — seniors, adults, and youth creating side by side. Brushes moved. Stories surfaced. And by the end, the room understood something at the heart of Janine’s own journey — and of Healing Art Together’s mission: art doesn’t have to fix grief to heal it. It just has to give it somewhere to go.

Her artwork was on exhibit throughout the space, surrounding us with bold, beautiful reminders that pain can transform into something meaningful. You could feel the shift in the room—from hesitation to expression, from isolation to connection. This is what community workshops do: they create safe spaces where people don’t have to carry their grief alone.

Support Healing Art Together
Your donation helps us bring more transformative workshops and exhibits to communities that need them. Every contribution creates space for healing, creativity, and the courage to share our stories.

Healing Art Together Community Event – March 2025

Reception and Workshop with JLisette
Held at Elmont Library, this interactive event drew 50 attendees for an engaging intergenerational experience. Artist JLisette led a powerful workshop that included a presentation and a hands-on canvas drawing activity. Her Multifarious collection was also on exhibit, offering participants a deeper connection to her creative and healing journey. Visit the Photo Gallery to see more photos.

2024 Healing Art Together Conference – Where It All Began

Organized by Healing Art Together co-founder Diana McCray, this conference at the African American Museum of Nassau County in Hempstead was the beginning of everything. It was different. It was unique. And everyone who attended walked away with a deeper understanding of how art heals.

We brought together over 100 people for a full day of creativity, community, and wellness—with speakers from diverse professional backgrounds including CEOs from healthcare companies, education leaders, and art and wellness professionals. Our keynote speaker was Donna Walker-Kuhne, CEO of Walker Communications International and author of Invitation to the Party and Champions for the Arts. Donna presented renowned artist Ann Tanksley with the Champion for the Arts award.

The day included a healing art exhibit featuring local and emerging artists, powerful speaker talks, and a community networking session that sparked connections still thriving today. This wasn’t just a conference—it was the moment we proved that when art, purpose, and community come together, transformation is inevitable.

Support Healing Art Together
Your donation helps us continue building on this foundation—bringing transformative workshops, exhibits, and events to communities that need them most. Every contribution honors the vision that started here.

Wear Teal For Shannan

Wear Teal For Shannan is a powerful, annual walk held each September during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month to honor the radiant spirit of Shannan Dyana McCray. Since our first walk in September 2023, this event has become a space for remembrance, connection, and empowerment. In 2025, we proudly celebrate our 3rd year of walking in her memory—surrounded by teal, community, music, and love.

Shannan was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2019 and bravely fought for three years, passing in 2022. She lived with incredible strength, love, and grace—and inspired everyone around her to do the same. Shannan’s legacy is one of joy, light, and courage, and Wear Teal For Shannan is our way of continuing to share that legacy with the world.

What started as a walk has grown into a movement—a place where we not only raise awareness, but also lift up those still fighting, those grieving, and those healing.

After Shannan’s passing, her mother, Janine Lisette McCray-Booker, turned her grief into something creative and transformative. She began to paint, to sketch, to pour her love into artwork that captured the spirit of her daughter and the strength of women everywhere.