Creatively Exploring Health Equity

Monday, October 14, 3:40pm – 5:00pm

Organized and moderated by Kendra Jones, director for Arts & Equity, Richmond Memorial Health Foundation.

Presented by Alfonso Perez Acosta, artist, Sacred Heart Center/Thriving Cities Group; GiGi Amateau, artist, Family Lifeline; and Alison McNeil, founder & chief creative officer, McNeil Creative Enterprises.

In 2017, Richmond Memorial Health Foundation (RMHF) began exploring notions of health and equity, as understood by Richmonders, by funding eight artists and artist collectives to consider the following questions in tandem with their creative works. They considered the following questions, “What does it mean to be well?”, “How do aspects of identity, such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, migrant status and socioeconomic status, relate to health outcomes?”, and “What structural barriers exist to achieving states of physical, mental, and social well-being?”. The artists, through creative expression, unearthed experiences of the past, realities of the present, and possibilities for the future. In 2019, RMHF doubled its original investment from 2017 to continue the creative exploration of health equity more expansively by funding nonprofit organizations that hire artists to engage diverse communities in participatory sessions in order to lift up their voice and perspective in fostering solutions for achieving equity. We call this Equity in Action! This session will compare the evolution of RMHF's exploration of the intersection of art and health as it relates to equity and the impact that creativity plays in healing.