Arts in health mapping project: Florida

In this commentary essay, I examine the collective moral responsibility of leveraging arts and culture for health promotion, and the role ethical storytelling can play in reframing how health educators promote “good health” with specific regard to the next generation of the workforce. I reflect on the impact of racism, White supremacy, and anti-Blackness when merging the arts and culture sector with public health disciplines, and close with a call to action as our niche field expands. I argue that no matter our role as artists, cultural workers, heritage holders, and/or focus within public health education and health promotion, our work is both an art and a science. Just as the language we use forms a story, the collection of scholars we choose to cite exposes a narrative. I hope this commentary encourages readers to reflect on opportunities in their work to close the health equity gap with recognition of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and capital within and across Black culture while also lifting up the community cultural wealth that exists in Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

Section: Who Are We and Who Are We For?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on Racism: Reflections on Our Collective Moral Responsibility When Leveraging Arts and Culture for Health Promotion

Burch

2021

“…The arts are essential tools for public health practitioners to understand communities, enhance our consciousness, attract attention to health issues, relay health education messages, foster community building, and promote healing. Research shows the arts can provide health benefits; increase health service equity and access; create safe, inclusive, and engaging environments; support social, cultural, and policy change; enrich research methods and practices; and strengthen health communication (Sonke & Golden, 2020). Even so, inequitable “arts in health” practices can still be rooted in cultural racism, whether with intention or not, and if unchecked, can reproduce ideals of white supremacy (Corbin et al, 2021).…”

Section: In Search Of (Poetic) Health Justice: Public Health Developm...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Altering Auras, Ideas, and Dreams: Naming and (Re)Claiming a Poetry for the Public’s Health

Petteway

Burch

Dill

2022

“…A stronger alliance between community-engaged arts and CBPR has the potential to bring more vividness, nuance, and meaning to that data. CBPR methods can also enrich and deepen understanding of the arts’ impacts on community health and address many specifics outlined in the evidence-based framework published by the University of Florida, such as “aesthetic experience,” “expression and being hard,” “meaning making,” and “elevating underrepresented voices” (Sonke & Golden, 2020).…”

Section: Implications For Community-based Health Promotion Practice and Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging Arts for Justice, Equity, and Public Health: The Skywatchers Program and Its Implications for Community-Based Health Promotion Practice and Research

Epstein

Bluethenthal²,

Visser

et al. 2021

Arts have long addressed the conditions that cause ill health, such as poverty, social inequality, and structural racism, and have recently taken on increased significance for public health. This article illuminates the potential for cross-sector collaboration between community-based health promotion and community-engaged arts to address the social determinants of health and build neighborhood assets at multiple levels of the social-ecological model. It features Skywatchers, a collaborative community arts ensemble of artists and residents of the culturally rich but economically poor Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco, California, and its original values-based “relational, durational, conversational, and structural” methodology focused on process over product and leveraging arts for justice and equity. Now, 10 years into its work, Skywatchers offers lessons about building reciprocal relationships, cocreating artworks, and promoting arts-based advocacy to improve the conditions that foster poor health in the neighborhood. The article discusses implications for community-based health promotion practice that delineate commitments and challenges shared between the two fields, their distinct roles and tools, and the potential for more widespread partnerships. It concludes with implications for policy and advocacy and a vision for expanded community-based participatory research to better understand the impact of arts on community health and well-being.