Arts and Health: The Role of the Arts Sector in Promoting Resilience and Well-Being
![Cover of American Artscape No 2 2023 magazine](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/images/2023_no2_cover.png?itok=7XeDplNc)
Accent Pontiac musicians Deshaun Arnett (left) and Lay’Onna Scruggs (right) are all smiles while warming up to perform at the 2023 End of Year Showcase concert. Photo courtesy of Jeff Dunn Photography
About this Issue
The COVID pandemic took a great toll on the health of the nation. Beyond the physical—the huge loss of life, our quest to deal with the various new strains appearing suddenly, and the lingering Long COVID—there was the mental toll as well. As the Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy noted in a public health advisory released in May 2023, there is an epidemic of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection in our country: “The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity.”
The arts are part of a healthy life, contributing to greater social cohesion, health equity, and community well-being. This could include individual practice to improve one’s mental health, orchestra members playing in health care facilities to soothe patients and their families in tense and anxious situations, arts education programs that support the social and emotional needs of students, the stories we share that allow us to come together and acknowledge our histories and bridge differences, and more.
Mindful of the toll that the pandemic has also taken on the arts and cultural sector, this issue will look at some of the ways that the arts continue to address and contribute to public health, healing, well-being, and community resilience. These are just a few of the stories demonstrating the importance of the arts sector and the incredible power of the arts to help individuals, organizations, and communities come out of a difficult time, think differently about how they live, take control of their own narratives, and advance efforts to be whole. Living an artful life is essential to living a healthy life.
Included in this Issue
![Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson](/sites/default/files/styles/card_square/public/images/maria-rosario-jackson-color-portrait2-400px-version2.jpg?h=642d3d13&itok=7drTNn77)
![Black woman in yellow hat and flowery shirt stands in foreground with hand on her heart, group of people seated behind her also have hands over the heart, Black man at back plays a trumpet.](/sites/default/files/styles/card_square/public/images/photo3-asheculturalartscenter.jpg?h=b9e1c2ca&itok=2O9tqIBc)
![A group of people posing for photo, holding up artwork they have done.](/sites/default/files/styles/card_square/public/images/watercolor.jpg?h=4521fff0&itok=Fm3xGX8S)
![Drawing of a shady tree-lined area with people gathering there.](/sites/default/files/styles/card_square/public/images/home_of_harmony_view_003.png?h=ad4a6aed&itok=HLTzkiub)
![Girl wearing sunglasses and blue shirt drumming on stage outdoors.](/sites/default/files/styles/card_square/public/images/accentpontiac-photo2-300cmyk.jpg?h=ada05aa9&itok=YFqw8fD6)
![Rows of audience members sitting in a performing arts venue waiting for a performance.](/sites/default/files/styles/card_square/public/images/77459-210929-lizavoll.jpg?h=df54f268&itok=6AQqPXen)
![Woman wearing black dress and large gold necklace sitting at piano and singing in front of an audience.](/sites/default/files/styles/card_square/public/images/nani.jpg?h=04ec9ced&itok=Cq0phMJo)
![Drawing of a hand with words written in it.](/sites/default/files/styles/card_square/public/images/grandpas_hand_grandpas_hand_by_soren_glassen_photographed_by_the_artist_used_courtesy_of_city_lore.jpeg?h=93fa4828&itok=723wcqT7)
![Black man with gray goatee wearing brown workshirt with arms extending in front of white woman in orange shirt doing same gesture, in a garden.](/sites/default/files/styles/card_square/public/images/future_fields_2022-06-10_mft_ralph_corina-photoby_stephen_clapp.jpeg?h=1c9b88c9&itok=YpT3ZRNg)