Hippocrates Cafe

Hippocrates Cafe was created in 2009 by Dr. Jon Hallberg, in an unfinished space in the University of Minnesota Physicians Mill City Clinic in Minneapolis. It was conceived as a live, one-hour show that placed complex healthcare topics in context through story and song. 

Each unique show featured a theme that actors, musicians, and storytellers explored in front of live audiences. In the subsequent decade, over 100 shows were performed in eight states, in such venues as the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Clinic, the Minnesota State Fair, and Stanford University. 

Hippocrates Cafe performed its final live show (fittingly, titled “In the Time of Plague”) at the Minnesota Museum of American Art in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Friday, March 13, 2020, just as stay-at-home orders went into place. Unable to perform for live audiences, Hippocrates Cafe pivoted to the world of television through the Art + Medicine series. While there are no current plans for more live Hippocrates Cafe shows, if you or your group are interested in hosting one, please reach out to us and we will discuss the feasibility of doing so.

Art + Medicine

Created in partnership with Twin Cities Public Television (TPT PBS), the first televised production, Art + Medicine: Reflections on the Pandemic, aired in September of 2020. The show was distributed nationally on PBS stations via American Public Television to 25 states and was awarded a Regional Emmy in Fall of 2021.

With the success of its first televised production, CFAM continued partnership with TPT PBS, producing Art + Medicine—films exploring the intersections of medicine and art. Art + Medicine: Speaking of Race premiered in March of 2022 and was awarded a Regional Emmy in Fall of 2022, and Art + Medicine: Healthy Aging premiered in October of 2022. The fourth show, Art + Medicine: Disability, Culture and Creativity, premiered in October of 2023.

Hippocrates Cafe

"There are no words that can express my gratitude for the beautiful show you performed yesterday. Everyone I have spoken with was blown away."

—What our audience says