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 EveryBody, 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 27, 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, D.C. 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…