Arts & Health
ARTS FOR EVERYBODY/ONE NATION ONE PROJECT COHORT
ArtStart was one of 18 communities to participate in the Arts For Everybody initiative, a larger national project through One Nation One Project, a national arts and health initiative between Artists, Local Governments, and Community Health Providers designed to activate the power of the arts to heal our communities.
As part of this effort ArtStart gathered data, launched pilot programs, created a public art project focusing on social cohesion and began to explore how arts organizations can support the mental well being of the community it serves. This Arts & Health focus drives our current programs and future programs are in development in partnership with area health and human service organizations.
What is Arts For Everybody?
At a moment when Americans face acute challenges to their individual and collective well being, the audacious new campaign from One Nation/One Project titled Arts For EveryBody is about to prove how the arts can lead to healthier people and healthier communities. Inspired by the 1936 Federal Theatre Project where 18 cities and towns presented their own interpretations of the anti-fascist play “It Can't Happen Here,” Arts For EveryBody will bring together people and communities.
On July 27, 2024, artists, civic leaders, and community health providers in 18 cities and towns across America simultaneously premiered an array of large-scale participatory art projects drawing on the sounds, styles, and stories of their communities.
In big cities and rural counties, hundreds of actors, muralists, poets, folk dancers, circus clowns, farmers, flower artists, skaters, cooks, architects, DJs, puppeteers, nurses, mariachi players, and bamboo weavers created new works that show the world where they come from. The result - a celebration of American pluralism–of unity through diversity. From Seattle to Gainesville, from Rhinelander to Honolulu, it is an outpouring of local joy.
On July 27th, TOGETHER a site specific art installation was unveiled at Hodag Park. This sculpture, from artists Norma Dycus Pennycuff and Witt Siasoco, uses bone conduction technology to turn the sculpture into a sound bench. The sounds one hears are the voices of community expressing what they would say to rekindle connection.