Arts and Health

"What if I told you that we all possess the power to heal and transform how trauma manifests in our bodies? Further, music, art, and creative expressions are portals through which we can activate our power to heal," said Nineequa Blanding for Nonprofit Quarterly. "According to Dr. Sará King— neuroscientist, medical anthropologist, and founder of Mind Heart Consulting—'we actually have been imbued with superpowers' that enable healing. In her opening comments during a session entitled 'Art, Music, and Science as Catalysts for Healing & Transformation,' she expressed her interest in exploring the ways our bodies have been designed to support our capacity to heal."

From the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies: "The arts and creativity are increasingly recognized as necessary infrastructure for healthy, prosperous and equitable communities, regardless of community size or geography. The evidence backing the value of the arts continues to grow as more states and cities invest in arts based policies as a means to improve community health and well-being."

"As we presented in a previous From the Research Team, NASAA and the National League of Cities (NLC) collaborated to create a series of blog posts highlighting the strength of infusing the arts into communities in Colorado, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Building on this blog series, NASAA and NLC convened a webinar, Leveraging Partnerships in the Arts to Strengthen Public Health, to further highlight arts and health work in Rhode Island and illustrate how arts and health programming is accomplished."

"Order this year’s CSA from Springboard for the Arts, and you won’t get squash or cucumbers. You’ll get monthly deliveries of unique local art." said Jared Kaufman for TwinCities Pioneer Press. "At the St. Paul artist resource organization, CSA stands for community-supported art. It’s an intentional nod to a better-known version of CSA — community-supported agriculture — through which people can support local farms for a whole growing season by pre-purchasing a subscription to receive regular fresh produce."

From Mellon Foundation: Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes was no stranger to the significance of Ashé Cultural Arts Center when she joined the non-profit as chief equity officer in January 2020.

“This was the first place that paid me to write a poem in my early 20s,” says Ecclesiastes of the New Orleans non-profit organization that celebrates its 25th anniversary next year. “This is an organization that I have been around since its inception. I grew up alongside it.”

From author Vu for Nonprofit AF: "Justice has been dealt a significant blow. Many of us are distraught, wondering how we can continue when an unceasing barrage of death and violence continues raining down on our communities day after day. However, many of us are more pissed off than anything. We’re going to keep fighting."

NeuroArts Blueprint has released a new report that explains, "how to grow and share the scientific knowledge showing art to be an extraordinary tool for promoting health and wellbeing in individuals and communities."

"Music works in both magical and clinically substantiated ways in communities with rich musical traditions that span bluegrass, country, gospel, and more," writes Taylor Sisk in a long-form piece in National Geographic about how music and health are intertwined and inextricably linked throughout the Applachian region.

Philanthropist Laurie M. Tisch announced this week that 14 New York City-based organizations will receive grants in the Illumination Fund’s new Arts & Mental Health program, an expansion of its Arts in Health Initiative.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has partnered with the White House in its “We Can Do This” campaign to encourage people to get their COVID-19 vaccine "so that all arts venues can open and welcome audiences."

A new digital publication from Public Art Forecast, FORWARD, recently released its first issue, How Artists Help Drive Better Public Health Outcomes, focused on public health and artists.