Caroline Wagner

Discipline: 
Researcher
Music Practitioner
Musician/artist
Educator
Other
Other Discipline/Category: 
Theatre Facilitator
Location: 
San Jose, CA 95125
United States
Short biography and a description of your interest(s) in music and health: 
Caroline Wagner-Jacobson is an experienced arts in health facilitator and researcher who specializes in theatre engagement. Caroline holds 13+ years of experience utilizing improvisation, music, and storytelling in hospital and community health settings. With a focus on whole-person care and evidence-based research, she has served a wide variety of populations such as hospitalized pediatric patients, low-income students, at-risk families affected by HIV/AIDS, patients recovering from substance abuse, healthcare staff, U.S. Veterans, and Ukrainian refugees.

Caroline is currently conducting research for Americans for the Arts on behalf of Creative Forces, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. The research investigates civilian and government models of clinic to community pathways and how they work, and for whom, to inform efforts to establish Clinic to Community Continuum (C2CC) coordination for Creative Forces clinical sites. She is a research assistant for the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine Interdisciplinary Research Lab where she is currently assisting the ONE NATION ONE PROJECT research team with a mixed-methods research study examining the relationship between arts participation, social cohesion, and wellbeing.

Caroline is an actor, dancer, singer, pianist, and improv performer. She has performed professionally across the United States in plays and musicals including a few national tours. Additionally, she is a director and choreographer who has staged hundreds of shows, for which she won National Youth Arts awards and AriZoni awards. Caroline is a theatre educator who has taught acting, improv, and musical theatre classes to kids and adults in Arizona and the Netherlands. She particularly enjoyed her role as an adjunct faculty member teaching musical theatre to university students.

Caroline hosts corporate improvisation training sessions aimed at creativity, communication, and collaboration. These fun, interactive team-building workshops allow participants to think on their feet and work together to solve problems in a safe, supportive environment. Past clients have included medium to large corporations, Fortune 500 companies, as well as governmental institutions.

Caroline holds a Master of Arts (MA) in arts in medicine from the University of Florida and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in theatre from Arizona State University. Her master’s thesis was an IRB-approved qualitative research study exploring the effects of participatory theatre engagement on U.S. Veterans’ perceptions of social connection.