Leveraging Partnerships in the Arts to Strengthen Public Health

Four copies of Things We Share, a graphic novel cookbook, by Jazzmen Lee-Johnson.

The cover of Things We Share, a graphic novel cookbook. Image courtesy of Jazzmen Lee-Johnson.

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.

The panel conversation was facilitated by Dr. Tasha Golden, director of research at the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University, who also presented on the research supporting the use of arts in health care and well-being. Valeria Tutson, artist and executive director of Rhode Island Black Storytellers, gave a creative storytelling presentation to frame Rhode Island’s Health and Human Services Artist in Residence program and the City of Providence’s Creative Community Health Worker program.

The panelists, who consisted of representatives from both programs, spoke about the on-the-ground details and opportunities in arts and heath programming, including:

tools and resources for new programs,
funding details for starting and continuing programming, and
strategies for pursuing cross-sector partnerships and engaging local communities and community assets.

NASAA produced a new Arts, Health and Community Well-being web page and an arts and public health infographic to provide resources for arts, health and community well-being practitioners. For more information, contact NASAA Senior Director of Research Ryan Stubbs.