Healing Arts Atlanta

Focused on “Championing the Role of the Arts in Addressing Racism as a Public Health Crisis,” In October, city and community leaders engaged with researchers, artists, and policy advocates in exploring the science and practice of how the arts can reduce mortality, strengthen coping, and facilitate healing from the wounds of racial trauma and stress.

Matthew McCurdy, Co-Founder & Executive Director of BLKHLTH, remarked “At BLKHLTH, we recognize the power of art to explain injustice while helping us reimagine and build a more just world.”

7 October 2024, 3-7 pm | Arts & Wellbeing Workshops & Museum Stroll

The High Museum of Art

The High Museum of Art invited artists, health professionals, educators, community organizers, and others working at the intersection of arts and health in Atlanta for an afternoon of restoration at the museum. During this private event, participants enjoyed access to the museum galleries, including the hallmark exhibition Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, as well as a series of mindfulness exercises that ground us in our bodies and communities and orient us around myriad forms of Black expression and ingenuity.  

7 October 2024, 7-8 pm | Music & Wellbeing with Lama Rod Owens & Violinist Melissa White

High Museum of Art

Performance Hypothesis hosted a special call-and-response live event with celebrated author and Black Buddhist Southern Queen Lama Rod Owens, as well as Grammy-winning violinist Melissa White. These two internationally renowned luminaries facilitate an evening of music, grounding breath-work, and liberatory practices as a unique and rejuvenating arts and mindfulness session. 

This Well-Being Concert was presented in collaboration with Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute.

8 October 2024, 10 am-12 pm | Muscogee Arts in Healthcare

Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University

Presented by the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies at Emory, this session hosted insightful discussions, interactive workshops, and engaging presentations on the intersection of arts and health on Tribal Nations. Panelists include:

• Rhonda Beaver, Chief Administrative Officer for Muscogee Nation Health Department
• Bobby C. Martin, Muscogee artist and Professor of Visual Arts at John Brown University

8 October 2024, 1-4:30 pm | Arts in Health Forum: Research & Practice

Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University

This interactive session spotlighted artists, researchers, and activists related to their work in advancing arts and health practice. This unique event featured Atlanta-based spoken word artists, performance from Atlanta Symphony Orchestra musicians, as well as celebrated researchers who are defining the landscape for arts & health research. 

The itinerary included: 

• Arts & Health Curriculum and Practice: key researchers and artists to discuss "the field" of arts and health and exploring best-practices to training, education, and implementation
• Artistic Genius in HIV Space: a discussion and celebration of Atlanta-based artists, activists, and public health leaders who leverage the arts to advance community health
• Creative Expression & Elders: a performance by Dance for Parkinson's artists and a focused discussion on how music, dance, and other art forms benefit elderly adults

9 October 2024 | Healthcare as a Human Right

National Center for Civil and Human Rights

The National Center for Civil and Human Rights and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra hosted a closed session to advance for the arts have a role to play in advancing healthcare as a human right. This event included leaders from the following institutions: 

• Morehouse School of Medicine 
• Grady Health System
• Performance Hypothesis
• World Health Organization - Regional Office for Europe
• Jameel Arts and Health Lab
• Emory University School of Medicine
• New York City Health + Hospitals
• University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine  

10 October 2024, 1-4 pm | Positively Creative: The Arts and Youth Mental Health

The Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University

As a longstanding champion of mental health, The Carter Center – in collaboration with the Carlos Museum of Emory University – hosted “Positively Creative: The Arts and Youth Mental Health.” This event included global and local expert panelists, including: 

• Nils Fietje, PhD - Founding Co-Director, Jameel Arts & Health Lab & Technical Officer for the BCI Unit, WHO Regional Office for Europe
• Jordan R. Murphy, PhD, RN, CPNP Chief Executive Officer, Center for Interrelational Science and Pediatrics (CSIP)
• Liz McDaniel Director of Engagement and Development, Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice
• Mohsin Mohi Ud Din, Founder and CEO, MeWe International Inc. 

In addition to these speakers, participants had the opportunity to take part in an experiential collaborative collage will demonstrate how artmaking can improve well-being.  The session will provide strong evidence and concrete examples of how incorporating art into social and health programming boosts mental health and how organizations can creatively address the youth mental health crisis.  

10 October 2024, 5-7 pm | CDC Museum Reception - World Mental Health Day

David J. Spencer Museum, CDC Museum

Healing Arts Atlanta went to the David J. Sencer CDC Museum for a special reception celebrating World Mental Health Day and its current exhibition: Stand & Witness; Time in the Art of COVID-19! Participants celebrated the role of the arts in addressing mental health with event partners Healing Arts Atlanta and  Thriving Together Atlanta. Network with fellow advocates, enjoy some refreshments, and meet some of the participating artists.

11 October 2024, 9-11:30 pm | Good Night ATL: Arts and Health

Buteco Grant Park

Poet Adán Bean and comedian David Perdue, in collaboration with BLKHLTH and Performance Hypothesis, hosted this special evening at Buteco that delved into the intersections of arts and health.