Nationwide Art Initiative Brings Together Communities Promoting Health Equity and Unity
By Nataki Garrett and Clyde Valentín
In this pivotal election year, as Americans face unprecedented health and social challenges, a groundbreaking new campaign is centering joy and redefining how we view the arts: not just as a form of expression or representation of culture but as a key component of community wellness. In just one day, Arts For Every Body, a national initiative led by One Nation/One Project, showcased the power of our collective joy.
The project sought to answer one question: How can arts participation in communities influence social cohesion and well-being? On July 27th, hundreds of artists from 18 cities and towns across America worked together to find out.
Arts For Everybody brought unlikely community partners together— artists, government officials and community health leaders— to produce participatory arts projects seeking to bridge the arts with the health and well-being of our communities. The activation part of ”One Nation/ One Project” spanned 18 communities across the country from Hawaii to Washington state to Texas to Florida to Illinois to New York and to the nation’s capital Washington, DC and beyond to share, to create, to perform in celebration of health, community, belonging, and togetherness. Each project sought to address the unique challenges of their city, from access to clean water to access to lost customs and culture—issues that, many times, disproportionately impacted Black and brown and low-income communities. These same communities face the biggest barriers when it comes to access to the arts and health care.
At the heart of Arts for Every Body is a commitment to addressing the deep inequities that disproportionately affect Black, brown, rural, and marginalized communities. These communities often face the greatest social challenges, from systemic health disparities to economic insecurity, yet have the least access to the healing power of the arts and quality healthcare.
Arts For EveryBody seeks to close this gap by bringing large-scale, participatory art projects directly into underserved neighborhoods, fostering not just creativity, but also mental and physical well-being. By prioritizing these communities, the project acknowledges that the arts can be a powerful tool for resilience and healing, particularly where they are needed most.
Part of the growing emphasis on participatory arts projects is research that shows a direct link to our health. In a recent paper looking at the tie between participatory art and health Dr. Jill Sonke, PhD, director of research initiatives in the Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida specifically looked at ”One Nation/One Project”.
”ONOP is a multifaceted initiative designed to engage the arts to strengthen the social fabric of U.S. communities on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative leverages collaborations between the arts, public health, and municipal sectors to build health, health equity, and well-being.”
Looking further at the reach and the impact of hundreds of artists coming together in communities all across the country shows the potential and the possibilities of arts and expresion to center health and wellness for diverse groups in diverse communities. In Chicago Healing Arts Chicago hosted a citywide creative summit focused on creating, doing, and performing to highlight how artists could be trained as community health workers. In Edinburg, Texas, the community premiered an original musical, Despierta, which featured 75 community members.
Also, it explored the legacy of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo as a way of looking at important things such as healing and belonging. In Kansas City, Missouri, the community hosted Celebrate AMERI’KANA a music and arts festival bringing together locals of all ages to celebrate the diverse history of American music.