Alicia Witt

Artful Philanthropist

Alicia Witt’s involvement with the nonprofit organization The Art of Elysium has, in her words, been more than inspiring. It’s a life-changing experience that she says she will never forget as she strives to continually take part in an organization that she feels is a constant reminder of why she got involved in acting in the first place. 

“It is always so inspiring to think of the children [who are ill] and remember how lucky we are and ... to realize how lucky I am to get to do what I love for a living—the acting and the music.”

Founded 11 years ago by one of Witt’s good friends, Jennifer Howell, The Art of Elysium is designed to “bring artists together with kids who are seriously ill, while also encouraging artists to give what they do for a living to these kids, in turn changing their lives and helping them focus on something other than their illness,” says Witt.

The artists involved include musicians, actors, painters, photographers, and even makeup artists and clothing designers. Witt illustrates how easy it is for “creative types” to get involved with the organization when describing a recent eight-week program that was put together to focus on children with facial disfigurements. 

“That particular program was about teaching kids who have had some sort of facial disfigurement how to feel better about who they are and how to deal with people who are teasing them or treating them in a different way,” Witt explains. “One of the things that they finished with was a fashion show where the kids came out in clothing donated by the various designers and were shown how to apply makeup and do that sort of thing—mostly for self-empowerment.”

Witt, a classically trained pianist who has worked in both television and film (from Cybill and Ally McBeal to her roles in the movies Upside of Anger and Two Weeks Notice), says one of the biggest challenges she has faced while working with The Art of Elysium has been her problem with blood. “The thing that has personally been a challenge for me with the organization is that I have a real problem with blood, so I have not been able to actually do in-patient stuff as much as I would like to.” 

Fortunately, the organization also does out-patient work once the children have been released but are continuing with treatment. It was in this way that Witt was able to work with a girl who has leukemia. 

“I gave her piano lessons,” Witt tells. “She was going to be in isolation for her radiation treatment, and she wanted to have piano lessons.”

In addition to the piano lessons, Witt also donated a keyboard.

“This was an amazing experience for me, obviously. The strength of this child who had this horrible disease that would scare the living daylights out of anyone, and she was so brave and so nonchalant about it, just accepting it as something that she needed to get through with the utmost confidence that she would.” 

Witt, who has been playing the piano since she was 7 years old, notes that it is her own experience with the piano that has gotten her through a lot of hard times. 

“But nothing like that,” she adds. 

Hoping to someday expand across the country, the organization was founded when a close friend of Howell’s who had leukemia told her about a young boy at his treatment center who spent most of his time by himself because his parents had to work. Howell became determined to find a way to live by the message that “no child should ever be alone during treatment.” Gathering friends with the same philosophy, she sought to make this happen. Currently the organization works in both Los Angeles and New York.

Witt, who is happy to be a friend to the children, says, “It brings the children the joy of art, and at the same time it is incredibly rewarding for the artists because it reminds everyone who takes part of [the] gift they have, to gain a greater appreciation of how blessed they are, and to appreciate what they have.”