Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project Connects with Parents at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst to Create Lullabies
Supported by the Arts in Medicine department, the program is available to patients and staff at Elmhurst Hospital expecting a child or with young children
Oct 06, 2025
NYC Health + Hospitals’ Arts in Medicine department and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute today announced a new season of the Lullaby Project. The program created by Carnegie Hall pairs professional musicians with parents or expecting parents to write a personalized lullaby for their family. The Lullaby Project is available to patients and staff of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, and the free workshops will take place at the hospital on most Thursdays from October to April. Research shows that creating and singing lullabies promotes overall family well-being by supporting parental health, early child development, and the connection between parent and child. This year, researchers will also evaluate how this creative process affects hospital staff who help connect families to the project. The evaluation will be led by WolfBrown, known for their work with Carnegie Hall on impact research.
The Lullaby Project features award-winning musicians to collaborate with patients and develop a unique lullaby. This year’s program includes the following musicians:
- Falu Shah
- Mafer Bandola
- Willerm Delisfort
- Patrick Thompson
“Welcoming a new baby into the family can be joyful, overwhelming, and everything in between,” said Laurie Tisch, founder and president of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. “The Lullaby Project helps parents build early bonds with their babies by turning emotion into song. It offers connection, comfort, and love at a time when families need it most. We are proud to support this program at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst in partnership with Carnegie Hall.”
“Arts in Medicine is proud to continue to offer this unique program to our families at NYC Health + Hospitals,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Assistant Vice President of Arts in Medicine Larissa Trinder. “For parents and children, it strengthens emotional bonds, supports maternal health, and promotes early childhood development through the power of song. The process empowers parents by affirming their voices and creating lasting memories. New this year, we are eager to learn the emotional and professional impact the experience has on staff members who connect patients to the Lullaby Project and how participating in or witnessing the creative process might influence staff morale, empathy, and sense of purpose. Thank you to the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination fund for your continued support that allows us to advance this program and our work supporting the healthcare workforce at NYC Health + Hospitals.”
“The Carnegie Hall Lullaby Project is a beautifully unique way to welcome infants into the world and have them bond with their moms and other caregivers,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst CEO Dr. Helen Arteaga. “A huge thank you to Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute for giving our patients the opportunity to work with amazingly talented musicians to produce one-of-a-kind musical gifts for their babies. This program brings us so much joy and we are thrilled to see it reach additional families.”
“The use of music in medicine has created meaningful connections between patients, families, and musicians,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst Deputy Executive Director for Ambulatory Care Amy Harris. “The Carnegie Hall Lullaby Project has become a cherished seasonal tradition at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, offering families the opportunity to create personalized lullabies that celebrate the rich cultural diversity of our community. We are proud to partner with such a renowned and iconic institution as Carnegie Hall, whose commitment to community engagement has brought comfort and joy to our newborns’ families, artists, and healthcare staff alike.”
“We are thrilled to continue our longstanding Lullaby Project partnership with NYC Health + Hospitals, an essential service provider in the Elmhurst community,” said Tiffany Ortiz, Director, Early Childhood Programs for Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. “Music can play an important role in the overall well-being of families, and we’ve seen firsthand the impact of writing lullabies to foster connection, empower caregivers, and support early child development. We’re excited to resume programming this fall with NYC Health + Hospitals / Elmhurst, and to explore the broader community impact of the Lullaby Project through the lens of its staff.”
Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project first took place in 2011 at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi in the Bronx. The initiative now serves more than 1,000 families a year through five partner institutions in New York City and nearly 70 partner institutions worldwide. In New York City, the project reaches families in healthcare settings, social service, and other community centers. Songs have been written in more than 40 different languages and in a diverse range of musical styles.
Research by WolfBrown found that through the Lullaby Project, parents experience a growing sense of their own agency, creativity, well-being, self-confidence, and capacity to be loving, sensitive and responsive care givers.
###
MEDIA CONTACT: Press Office
#162-25
About Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute
Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI) creates visionary programs that embody Carnegie Hall’s commitment to music education, playing a central role in fulfilling the Hall’s mission of making great music accessible to as many people as possible. With unparalleled access to the world’s greatest artists, WMI’s programs are designed to inspire audiences of all ages, nurture tomorrow’s musical talent, and harness the power of music to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. An integral part of Carnegie Hall’s concert season, these programs facilitate creative expression, develop musical skills and capacities at all levels, and encourage participants to make lifelong personal connections to music.
Hundreds of thousands of people each year engage in WMI’s programs through national and international partnerships, in New York City schools and community settings, and at Carnegie Hall. This includes more than 208 orchestras, peer arts organizations, and education and community-based organizations in 46 states as well as internationally in 33 countries on 6 continents. WMI’s hands-on programs tap into the creativity of audiences of all ages, inviting them to make their own music in all genres, express their viewpoints, and raise their voices. WMI shares an extensive range of online music education resources and program materials for free with teachers, families, orchestras, arts organizations, and music lovers worldwide. As a leader in music education, WMI generates new knowledge through original research, which informs Carnegie Hall’s own programs and is also available as a resource to artists, organizations, and peers.
For more information, please visit: carnegiehall.org/education.
About NYC Health + Hospitals’ Arts in Medicine Program
The Arts in Medicine department at NYC Health + Hospitals seeks to foster the emotional well-being and promote healing and wellness for all patients and their families, employees, and the greater community by utilizing the arts, including literary, visual, and performing arts throughout the health care system. In addition to managing the system’s significant visual arts collection, the Arts in Medicine department encourages evidenced based practices to all of the system’s health care facilities and clinics. This is accomplished by combining artistic innovation and education into a comprehensive health care continuum that supports the healing benefits of the arts. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org/artsinmedicine.
About NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst
NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, part of the NYC Health + Hospitals health care system, is the major tertiary care provider in the borough of Queens. The 545-bed hospital is a Level 1 Trauma Center, an Emergency Heart Care Station, a Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Receiving Center, a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Center of Excellence, and a 911-Receiving Hospital. It is a premiere health care institution offering exceptional services across a wide range of specialties, including surgery, cardiology, women’s health, pediatrics, rehabilitation medicine, renal services, and mental health care. In the past year alone, the hospital received nearly one million ambulatory care visits and over 140,000 emergency room visits, reflecting its essential role in the community. NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst has been nationally ranked and recognized as a “Best Regional Hospital” by U.S. News & World Report in critical areas such as Heart Failure, Heart Attack, Stroke, Hip Fracture, Maternity, Kidney Failure, Orthopedics, Pneumonia, and COPD.
About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 46,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
About the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
The Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund is a New York City-based foundation that aims to improve access and opportunity for all New Yorkers and foster healthy and vibrant communities. In 2018, the Illumination Fund launched Arts in Health, a multi-year initiative to support organizations utilizing the arts as a tool for healing and building understanding in communities across New York City. The initiative’s areas of focus are stigma, trauma and aging-related diseases as well as supporting organizations addressing mental health in communities disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019 the Illumination Fund supported the creation of NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine department, expanding programs serving health care staff, patients, and communities in sites across the City. For more information, visit www.lmtif.org or follow @LMTischFund on Twitter.
