Interview: Liisa-Maria Lilja-Viherlampi, Turku University of Applied Sciences

Students: At first, we would like to know who you are and what you do?

Liisa-Maria: I’m Liisa-Maria Lilja-Viherlampi, Doctor of Education and Master of Music, principal lecturer in Creative Wellbeing at Turku University of Applied Sciences. I’m a also the leader in our master’s degree programme in Creative Wellbeing.

S: What was your professional path to your current position?

L-M: I have teaching experience in both primary and secondary schools. I am a class teacher and a music teacher for my first degrees. I have also worked for several years in teacher training at the University of Turku and also in third sector education in music. After graduating as a music therapist, I also worked as a music therapist. When I started working at Turku University of Applied Sciences in 1998, I started to develop pedagogical ideas for the application of music therapy to education – and well-being. My dissertation in 2007 dealt with the concept of “therapeutic” – how could we recognize and interpret the therapeutic meanings and possibilities of music and musical interaction in music education?

I have worked at Turku Arts Academy in various roles and tasks during my career as a developer-educator. I have had the privilege of promoting music in hospital and hospital and care settings in Finland and carrying out Turku UAS Care music training. It has been a great opportunity to be one of the first members of our dynamic team developing the field of arts, health and wellbeing at Turku UAS. In 2016, I was appointed as Finland’s first principal teacher in creative wellbeing (arts, health and wellbeing). For the last eight years I have been involved in creating and developing the Master School at the Turku Arts Academy.

S: How did you come to be a part of the ARTHEWE developer team?

L-M: That is an essential element of my job; to develop the field of arts, health and wellbeing in terms of educational structurers and to promote education in the field. Nationally and internationally. Erasmus+ funding offered us an inspiring frame to build a project that was a good step forward in the development continuum we have worked on during the last ten years.

S: What do you think wellbeing is? Why do you think it’s important to promote creative wellbeing? What kind of things you find especially significant?

L-M: I see wellbeing as a creative process, as life in itself is. The very core in it is the personal relationship to arts, and the personal experience of wellbeing. Wellbeing is an eudaimonic, holistic process, which has its potentials independent of a person’s age, health or living conditions etc.

S: What kind of things do you enjoy in your free time? Do you have any hobbies in regard of arts and culture?

L-M: I have a role as a singer and keyboard-player in a gospel band, NotBadBand, with four gentlemen. I’ve performed as a gospel singer for many years, but this band is a new aspect. That is really therapeutic for me! I also enjoy of free, associative writing, taking photos and reading (or listening to audio books). I love all kinds of improvising, with colours, movements, music…

S: Do you have any greetings that you want to send to the readers of the ARTHEWE website?
Respect and nurture your childlike creativity – it’s an important element in your vitality!