Earlier this year, the National League of Cities and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) convened local and state leaders from Rhode Island to discuss how artists, in collaboration with government, can meaningfully impact health outcomes in communities. Building on this initial effort, this webinar frames the connections between the arts, public health and community well-being and offers a conversation about how to build partnerships to implement arts and health programming. The discussion should be especially pertinent to state and local officials looking for innovative community health solutions.

The conversation is framed and moderated by Dr. Tasha Golden, director of research at the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University, and a national leader and consultant in arts and public health. The webinar features the Health and Human Services Artist in Residence program, a collaboration between the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and the Rhode Island Department of Health, and the City of Providence’s Creative Community Health Worker program, which is a collaboration between Providence’s Department of Art, Culture + Tourism and Healthy Communities Office.

• Steven Boudreau is the chief administrative officer for the Rhode Island Department of Health and cochair of Rhode Island Arts and Health.
• Tasha Golden is director of research at the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University, and a national leader and consultant in arts and public health.
• Lynne McCormack is the executive director at the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.
• Anisa Raoof is the grants management fellow and the Arts and Health Coordinator at the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. She is cochair of the Rhode Island Arts Health Initiative.
• Gina Rodríguez-Drix is the deputy director for the Department of Art, Culture + Tourism, City of Providence.
• Valeri Tutson is an artist, is a founding member and the executive director of the Rhode Island Black Storytellers, and is festival director of FUNDA FEST: An Annual Celebration of Black Storytelling.