Exploring and Building the Intersections of the Arts + Public Health in America 

Presented by the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine
In partnership with ArtPlace America and the Alliance for the Arts in Research in Universities (A2RU) 

This program is a part of the  Creating Healthy Communities Arts + Public Health in America  initiative.

October 31, 2018 from 9:00am to 5:00pm 
University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education, Athens, Georgia  
by invitation 

At the present moment, the arts are poised to transform public health as they have healthcare in recent years. With the overarching goal of creating stronger and healthier communities through the arts, a national initiative has been launched to bridge the arts and public health sectors through a strategic process of discovery, collaboration, translation, and dissemination. 

Program Brief

Over the past several decades, evidence has mounted to demonstrate that the arts have positive and measurable impacts on individual and community health. Since 2004, arts programs have been documented at approximately half of accredited healthcare institutions in the United States. This prevalence has led to the development of a recognized professional field, as well as to the development of an academic discipline that supports education and research in the field. As a result, healthcare systems widely embrace and utilize the arts as a means for enhancing health outcomes and healthcare systems. 

Today, as our national health system struggles to meet the needs of larger and older populations, a heightened emphasis on disease prevention, wellness, placemaking and community-level health has emerged. Concurrently, creative placemaking initiatives across the United States have demonstrated that the arts are a powerful means for strengthening the social and physical environments in communities; yet the public health sector has not yet fully embraced creative placemaking, or the arts in general, as resources for addressing the national public health agenda. Over the past several decades, evidence has mounted to demonstrate that the arts have positive and measurable impacts on individual and community health, yet their applications are under-investigated and inconsistently recognized in the public health sector. As a result, the arts remain a readily available, yet highly underutilized resource in public health. 

It’s time to join together to shape the future! This working group will focus on research in relation to the use of the arts in community health and community-building initiatives.

Together, we will address the questions: 

• How can the power of the arts be harnessed in community health and community-building initiatives? 
• How can we drive strategic collaboration the arts, community-building nad public health sectors? 
• How can we measure the outcomes and impacts of those collaborations? 
• Can standardized measurement instruments be developed to produce reliable outcomes in this domain?  

Who will be a part of the gathering: 

This invitation-only convening will include educators, researchers, practitioners, and others working – or seeking to work - at the intersections of arts, public health, healthcare, community development, creative placemaking and wellbeing. 

What to expect: 

In a highly energized, fast-paced and interactive format, your voice and vision will be heard. Our dialogue will be inspired by short presentations, provocations and performances, and together we will design action. 

Expect a structured, fun, action-oriented process in which you and other creative, knowledgeable leaders will envision and mobilize transformative ideas.