The Arts in Healthcare for Rural Communities Toolkit is designed to provide resources for the development of arts in healthcare programs that address health disparities and support individual/community health in rural communities. The toolkit was developed through the Arts in Healthcare for Rural Communities program, undertaken by the UF Center for Arts in Medicine and Shands Arts in Medicine, with support from the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs (DCA) and the Kresge Foundation.

The Arts in Healthcare for Rural Communities program was designed to:

1. To bring the arts and creative opportunities to rural communities in a way that enhances individual and community health and health literacy
2. To develop, assess, and disseminate models for the integration of the arts into healthcare in rural communities
3. To reduce health disparities in rural communities through arts programming

Within the toolkit, you will find resources related to the process of developing rural arts in healthcare programs and related to specific program models. Since 2008, we have facilitated the development of programs in four rural Florida communities. This toolkit is intended to share the valuable resources we discovered along the way as well as those we developed. Use the links in the navigation bar under Arts in Healthcare Rural Communities Toolkit on the left to get started.