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ArtStream Team Bio
Ermyn King
Ermyn King is an artist in healthcare, arts educator (drama, puppetry, storytelling, and improvisational expression in multimedia specialist), and experienced teacher with expertise in creating universal environments inclusive of individuals with disabilities. She holds a B.S. Degree in Education from Penn State and an M.A. Degree in Speech & Dramatic Arts/Drama for the Young from Eastern Michigan University. Ermyn has also taken graduate coursework and training in special education, counseling, psychology, grief and bereavement, arts in healthcare, play therapy, and the expressive arts therapies. She is currently pursuing registration as a drama therapist.
Ermyn's history as an arts educator includes serving as drama teacher at award-winning Fillmore Arts Center (District of Columbia Public Schools), docent-storyteller at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art, and adaptive arts workshop leader and author for the Arts in Special Education Project of Pennsylvania. She co-founded Pennsylvania's first audio description (AD) service for individuals who are blind and low-visioned, is an audio describer and AD trainer, and has been working with VSA Pennsylvania to stimulate statewide arts/cultural accessibility.
Ermyn directed Penn State's Arts and Health Outreach Initiative from 2001-04, and worked as arts program specialist at Children's National Medical Center from 2005-07. Her work at ArtStream includes serving as project leader and artist team member for Allies in the Arts, which brings creative arts experiences to Wounded Warriors, their families, and military medical staff at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC). Other healthcare settings where Ermyn has served or currently serves as an artist include Suburban Hospital, The HSC Pediatric Center, Georgetown University Hospital (Studio G program in Pediatrics), The Children's Inn at the National Institutes of Health, and The Specialty Hospital of Washington and Capitol Hill Nursing Center.
Ermyn has been a facilitator for and integrated expressive arts into Good Grief Clubs for bereaved children/youth and Grief Relief for Families sessions through Hospice Caring, Inc. She also conceived and was artistic director for the CARESS arts program for breast cancer survivors held at Penn State, where she received the University's 2001 Barash Award for Human Service for her work creating inclusive arts initiatives for underserved populations. Ermyn inaugurated and teaches an introductory Arts in Healthcare course at Chautauqua Institution, and consults nationally for the Society for the Arts in Healthcare.
Ermyn served from 2009-2012 as ArtStream's Director of Hospital and Hospice Programs, and has since moved on to a similar position, coordinating arts opportunities at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC).
