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Why Arts in Health?

Laurie M. Tisch

President
Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund

The mission of my foundation is straightforward. We aim to improve access and opportunity for all New Yorkers and foster healthy, vibrant communities. When I established my foundation in 2007 and was shaping our giving strategy, I knew that my efforts would be centered in New York given my family’s deep roots and philanthropic engagement with the City.

My family believes in doing what we can to help other people. My parents set a great example for me — from my mother’s leadership in the Gay Men’s Health Crisis to my father’s role in creating a public/private partnership to rebuild athletic fields at all of New York City’s public high schools.

In New York City, as in so many other places, zip codes and circumstances of birth can determine someone’s likelihood of a healthy life, good education, access to the arts, quality health care, good jobs, parks, and safe, clean, affordable housing. We look at philanthropy through an equity lens. I started the Illumination Fund because every New Yorker deserves access to what they need for a better life.

Decades of research have shown that the arts are a powerful tool to improve people’s lives and can play an important role in healthcare. We’re not an arts foundation, but the arts are an important part of my life. Rick Luftglass, Illumination Fund executive director, also has a deep engagement with the arts and came to the Illumination Fund from Pfizer, where he led important health philanthropy. With that experience, both of us saw firsthand how the arts can help people and improve their health and their lives overall. So, it felt natural to expand our arts funding and expand our health funding by connecting the arts and health.

We brought important lessons from our ten years of food insecurity work to bear as we planned our new initiative, especially the concept of creating a cohort of grantees, convening them, and fostering partnerships and collaborations amongst them, as well as engaging in public/private partnerships to magnify and multiply the effects of our giving.

Since 2018, with an initial $10 million commitment, the programs we support are flourishing, expanding, and seeing real results in the communities they serve. The research base is growing, exciting new organizations are mobilizing the field, new programs are being developed, and there are more and more opportunities to make a difference in people’s lives and health through the arts. We decided to create this report now to provide a snapshot of the first six years of that work and its impact so far, and to inspire health organizations, arts organizations, foundations, public agencies, and philanthropists to expand the field by exploring opportunities at the intersection of the arts and health.

Developing
the Arts in Health
initiative

Rick Luftglass

Executive Director
Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund

When the Illumination Fund began to plan for its Arts in Health initiative in 2017, we immersed ourselves in the issues, researched the landscape, spoke with experts, identified trends, and assessed needs, gaps, and opportunities where we could have a significant impact. And we put our findings through our lens — alignment with our mission of “increasing access and opportunity for all New Yorkers and fostering healthy and vibrant communities” — which is fundamentally about identifying disparities and promoting equity.

One of the challenges is that “Arts in Health” can mean many things. The power of the arts extends to a wide range of health and societal issues. We needed to determine our focus.

Based on our research and mission, we decided to focus on three issues where the arts could have a great impact:

• As a vehicle to combat mental health stigma
• As a resource in recovering from trauma and building resilience, and
• As a means to help improve quality of life for people with aging-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, other forms of dementia, and Parkinson’s disease.

We were inspired by new research and reports that identified the potential of the arts to address mental health stigma and trauma, and moved by personal experiences. Scrape the surface, and everyone has a story — whether it’s about experiencing mental health challenges and being reluctant to seek help, or having friends and family suffering from mental illness, or seeing our parents age and experience memory loss.

Launching Arts in Health

The Arts in Health initiative was designed to catalyze the use of the arts to address these and other health issues. Our goal is to help organizations that are doing important work to increase their ability to reach more people, advance their strategies, and build awareness of the role the arts can play in healing.

In 2018-2019, we supported about 15 organizations spanning the areas of mental health stigma, trauma, and aging-related diseases. We did not limit ourselves to particular artistic disciplines; we saw that visual art, theater, dance, filmmaking, music, and other disciplines have distinct benefits.

The types of grantees also varied widely. Some were arts organizations while others were social service, advocacy, and mental health service providers. Most were community-based nonprofits, and two were public agencies, including NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest municipal health system in the country. We prioritized communities and populations with health disparities and those disproportionately affected by issues of mental health stigma, trauma, and aging-related diseases.

During those first two years, we saw our grantees flourish. Our up-front plan was paying off.

But of course, when COVID hit in 2020, we learned that even the best-laid plans can’t anticipate some scenarios. There’s a Yiddish saying — “Man plans, God laughs.”

“We see evidence that communities that engage residents and have a high degree of social cohesion tend to be healthier than those who do not. Arts are part of the narrative of what makes a strong and healthy community.” [LINK]

Cara James, Ph.D.,
President and CEO
Grantmakers in Health

The Pandemic

Post-Pandemic

Map of Grantee Locations by Borough

Our 25+ grantees have a wide geographical distribution across the five boroughs of NYC. Hover over the map for more information.

A Global Reach

Submissions to the Community Access’ Changing Minds Young Filmmaker Competition, and participants to Theater of War’s Nurse Antigone.

A Roadmap for the Future

As we look to the future, the Illumination Fund remains committed to deepening its engagement and expanding impact within the arts in health community in New York. Building on the success of the initiative over the first six years, based on lessons learned, we aim to amplify the transformative power of the arts in healthcare through several key strategic directions:

1. Scaling Successful Programs and Fostering Creativity: While the initiative has helped to expand access to the arts to address key health issues, the need for services is even greater today. We will foster innovation in the field of arts in health as well as help organizations with proven programs expand services to touch more lives and promote health across diverse populations.

2. Innovative Partnerships: Partnerships are critical for sustaining and enhancing impact in the field. We will help our grantees create collaborations with healthcare providers, arts organizations, community-based organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions to develop innovative projects at the intersection of arts and health. These partnerships help pilot new approaches and broaden the scope of issues being addressed through the arts.

3. Research and Evaluation: To better understand and communicate the impact of the arts in healthcare, we will invest in robust research and evaluation of grantee programs and models. By helping our grantees partner with leading research institutions, we gather empirical data on the health benefits of arts integration into healthcare. This evidence not only informs the work of the grantees and their partners, but also helps us refine our strategies and provides evidence for the broader adoption of arts in health practices.

Together with arts organizations, healthcare organizations and other philanthropists and foundations, we can create a future where the arts are an integral part of healthcare, enriching lives and transforming communities.

Rick Luftglass

4. Building Awareness: Increasing awareness of the importance of arts in health is essential for long-term sustainability. By sharing success stories and best practices, we inspire other organizations and stakeholders to embrace the arts as a vital component of healthcare.

5. Community-Centered Approaches: Ensuring that the programs we support are inclusive and culturally sensitive is a priority. We encourage grantees and community members to create programs that reflect their community’s needs and preferences. This grassroots approach helps build trust and fosters a sense of ownership among participants.

6. Sustainability and Capacity Building: To ensure the longevity of our efforts, we will focus on sustainability, professional development, staff support, and capacity building within the organizations we support. We learned during COVID that burnout among nonprofit staff is a serious issue and one that the arts can help address. In addition, providing training and resources to healthcare providers, administrators, and artists empowers them to continue delivering high-quality, arts-based health interventions independently.

The Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund’s Arts in Health initiative is poised to make even greater strides in the coming years. By increasing investments in successful programs, and research; fostering innovative partnerships; embracing community-centered approaches; helping to grow the field of the arts in healthcare; and building sustainability through staff development and capacity building, we are committed to enhancing health and well-being through the power of the arts. Together with arts organizations, healthcare organizations and other philanthropists and foundations, we can create a future where the arts are an integral part of healthcare, enriching lives and transforming communities.

The Power of the Arts to Build Strong Communities, Improve Health and Healing, and Foster Flourishing

Susan Magsamen

Founder and Executive Director
International Arts + Mind Lab
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Today, we stand on the verge of a cultural shift in which the arts can deliver potent, accessible, and proven health and well-being solutions to billions of people. The ability to experience the arts and aesthetic experiences is among the defining characteristics of being human. We take in the world through our senses; smell, sound, taste, touch, and vision are powerful pathways into the brain. Science is now proving what artists have known for millennia — our brains and bodies are wired for art.

Allied with the growing research base, a vast number of arts practitioners are drawing on an arsenal of modalities to advance health and well-being. Validated by a combination of professional experiences and quantitative and qualitative evidence, practitioners are using arts interventions to improve mobility, memory, and speech; relieve pain and the after-effects of trauma; ease the course of chronic and degenerative diseases; enhance learning outcomes; build resilience; lessen the stigma associated with mental health disorders; and address other challenges that sometimes seem intractable. [LINK]

Beyond their capacity to lessen the toll of discrete medical conditions, the arts are playing a somewhat less easily measured — but no less crucial — role in advancing well-being, fostering social cohesion, and forging the more equitable, resilient, and economically viable communities that can grow and sustain health. [LINK] By showcasing and supporting coherent, culturally distinct communities, the arts provide ingredients that are vital for collective health.

While these findings are helping to shape new approaches in healthcare, education and public health, Laurie Tisch and Rick Luftglass at the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund were already ahead of the science. In 2018, the Illumination Fund launched its Arts in Health initiative, providing a point of intersection for multiple fields that are perhaps not accustomed to working together. The idea of community is central to Arts in Health, and the initiative supports organizations that are focused on health and wellness issues and that use the arts as a tool and resource, with the hope and intention of building opportunities for underserved communities and addressing disparities.

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Insights:

Trust, Innovation and Impact

Latanya Mapp

President and CEO
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors is a global nonprofit dedicated to accelerating philanthropy in pursuit of a just world. Through deep collaboration with our projects and the broader philanthropy ecosystem, we lead efforts to address complex global challenges. With a diverse and experienced team, we advance impactful solutions across a wide range of issue areas through audacious philanthropy. Since our founding in 2002, RPA has grown into one of the world’s largest philanthropic service organizations, committed to sharing knowledge and driving meaningful change.

RPA has been working with the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund since 2008, providing strategic advice, facilitating planning for new initiatives, and benchmarking impact. In our 2022 global philanthropy study, Operating Archetypes: Philanthropy’s New Tool for Strategic Clarity, [LINK] RPA spotlighted the Illumination Fund as a leader in transformative, long-term support for crucial institutions in New York, and its willingness to take risks and forge new directions in philanthropy.

In 2023, RPA was engaged to assist with the Arts in Health Progress Report. We spent six months interviewing grantees, attending convenings, listening to experts, drafting materials, and managing the project timeline to keep things moving. Through this process, we gained new insight into the Illumination Fund’s approach to developing and implementing its initiatives. We offer our insights below to highlight the innovative strategies and adaptive methods that have defined the Illumination Fund’s impact.

Thoughtful
Program Design

The Arts in Health initiative is distinguished by its deliberate approach to program design. In 2017, the Illumination Fund identified the growing trend of integrating arts into healthcare and spent a year researching evidence-based practices and consulting experts to pinpoint current needs, gaps, and promising developments. They chose to focus on supporting underfunded organizations addressing mental health stigma, trauma, and aging-related diseases.

By targeting organizations with great potential but limited resources, the Illumination Fund tailors its support to address specific gaps and challenges, offering a strategic framework to help these organizations achieve their

goals and expand their impact. The program includes a robust feedback mechanism, allowing for ongoing adjustments based on grantee input and evolving needs. This iterative approach enhances the relevance and effectiveness of each grant, fostering continuous improvement and responsiveness.

The Arts in Health funding framework showcases how a thoughtfully designed program can drive meaningful, adaptable solutions in complex environments, and can serve as a model for others who wish to fund emerging fields.

Grantmaking
Grounded in Trust

From the beginning, the Illumination Fund approached arts and health grantmaking with an open mind and a foundation of trust. They recognized that trust was essential for the initiative’s success. Our interviews revealed that grantees viewed the Illumination Fund as a supportive and accessible thought partner, instead of imposing top-down decisions. Grantees reported that when challenges arose, the team provided practical assistance and troubleshooting support rather than adding more requirements and additional hurdles. This trust was essential during the pandemic, when grantees faced unprecedented difficulties. In these trying times, the Illumination Fund offered crucial support, helping partners adapt and continue serving their communities amidst new and significant challenges.

Strategic
Flexibility

The Illumination Fund’s flexibility is another key differentiator. The Illumination Fund listens carefully to their grantees and is actively engaged in assessing needs and adjusting grants accordingly. In the very early days of the pandemic, they demonstrated this flexibility when the tremendous need for mental health services, especially among healthcare workers, and the negative stigma in seeking out this form of health care came to the fore. During this uniquely devastating, isolating, and unpredictable time, the Illumination Fund adjusted its support so grantee partners’ programming and services could truly meet the needs of the moment. The Illumination Fund provided additional funds for its grantees, and also launched its first open call for proposals to expand their giving — focusing on mental health needs in communities that were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. This thoughtful decision not only met immediate needs, but resulted in exposure to innovative organizations and fostered new partnerships and insights it might not have had with an invitation-only grant application.

Beyond
the Dollars

One of the most striking aspects of the Illumination Fund’s strategy is its emphasis on fostering connectivity among grantees. By creating a collaborative cohort experience, the Fund has enabled valuable exchanges of knowledge and resources, transforming isolated organizations into a network of synergistic partnerships. This approach not only enhances collective impact but also builds deep, meaningful connections, often overlooked in traditional funding models.

“Coming together fosters community, allowing for collaboration, troubleshooting, and shared learning. That is the magic of the cohort.”

David Leventhal,
Program Director
Dance for PD®

“The cohort provided us with an opportunity to reflect together. We were all working towards an opportunity to talk about mental wellness; we were each using a different approach and working with different communities. To know that there were peers out there provided us with a sense of community and a sense of strength.”

Jorge Merced,
Associate Artistic Director
Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater

Non-Grantmaking Strategies

Conclusion

This report conveys the arts’ ability to transform human health and wellness in ways we’ve rarely seen so vividly before. As philanthropy advisors, it’s promising and, indeed, exciting to imagine the possibilities of what comes next in this growing field. It often takes a courageous and fearless pioneer to take risks and create future funding opportunities for others. The Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund is a trailblazer in this field, setting a high standard for others to follow.

We believe this report will serve as an inspiring and valuable resource, showcasing the extraordinary possibilities that lie ahead in the realm of arts and health.

What Does Impact Look Like?

by Rick Luftglass

Every funder faces the question of how to measure the impact of its work — both in terms of the success of individual grants and the cumulative impact of its grants, programs, and initiatives.

Foundations and nonprofit organizations talk a lot about evaluation, impact, outcomes, and metrics. There are many ways to try to measure impact. There are theories of change, logic models, cost-benefit analyses, pathways maps, social return on investment, and some use rigorous scientific study models such as randomized controlled studies. All of these are important on a case-by-case basis, but there is a lot of jargon and you can get lost in theories.

There is great variety in strategies to assess impact. Some grantees conduct rigorous studies. Others look at basic numbers — counting participants, workshops, events, and other activities in order to assess reach and touchpoints. Many use surveys or focus groups to learn about the experiences of the participants. Yet for some programs, anecdotes about the lived experience of their program participants are the best way of determining impact. These may be entirely subjective but get to the heart of impact on individuals.

These are all valid ways to assess impact. We’ve adopted a phrase from Susan Magsamen of the Johns Hopkins University International Arts + Mind Lab: there are “many ways of knowing.”

Funders need to be judicious about resources. Almost anything can be measured, if you have enough money and time, but that doesn’t mean that it should. In all cases, we ask:

• What is meaningful?
• What is reasonable given the size of the organization?
• What is useful, and for what purpose?
• What is actionable?

We also are cautious about one-size-fits-all approaches to defining impact, as the resources required to conduct assessments pose structural impediments for small, grassroots organizations, many of which are led by and serve marginalized communities.

This Progress Report is not a formal evaluation. It is a synthesis of multiple ways of considering what impact looks like and sharing what we and our grantees have learned.

“How is a funder to compare the impact of a social justice dance group working with survivors of domestic violence to a Latinx theater company providing connections to mental health care through interactive theater, or a mental health organization using filmmaking as a medium to combat stigma, or a hospital system that is using the arts to promote wellness and help frontline staff who are at risk of burnout?”

Kira Pritchard,
Program Officer
Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund

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A Pioneering Partnership: NYC Health + Hospitals

Dr. MITCHELL KATZ, President and Chief Executive Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals

NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H) is the largest municipal hospital system in the country. It’s important and different than all the other municipal systems because it’s the only one which is large enough to reach everyone in New York City who wants to be seen at a public hospital. We have the most powerful mission. We are the only system in New York City that cares for people regardless of their economics under a single standard. And central to us is this idea that everybody gets the same level of care.

LAURIE TISCH

My family supports many important hospitals in New York, but when we launched Arts in Health in 2018, it was natural for us to make the City’s public hospital system an anchor for the initiative. It aligns perfectly with our mission. NYC Health + Hospitals seeks to serve all New Yorkers, no matter their ability to pay, gender identity, or immigration status — without exception. That’s truly access, opportunity, and community.

Public hospitals are not typically on the radar of most philanthropists, but they have many excellent and essential programs and services that necessitate philanthropic support. With the arts, NYC Health + Hospitals couldn’t afford to dream big. With our support they can. Our partnership has been transformative. Along with delivering great programming, they are measuring impact, innovating, and expanding the field of Arts in Health.

Dr. ERIC WEI, Senior Vice President, NYC Health + Hospitals, and Chief Executive Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue

When Dr. Katz and I came to NYC Health + Hospitals, we immediately saw that the staff was hurting. People had been operating under this black cloud of a $1.8 billion deficit. Which hospitals are going to close? Which services are going to be cut? How are we going to reduce head count?

We said, ‘no, no, no. We’re going to bring something for the staff.’ And so really putting the focus back on our most precious resource, which is our people — providing support for emotional and psychological trauma, figuratively refilling their tanks so that they can provide the highest quality, safest care and the best care experience possible. That was our first priority. So we implemented Helping Healers Heal, a peer-to-peer employee wellness program Mitch and I had piloted in Los Angeles to support the emotional and psychological well-being of our healthcare workers.

Dr. MITCHELL KATZ

When I joined Health + Hospitals in 2018 there were many surprises, but I think one of the biggest surprises was that there was this huge art collection. And I was hearing suggestions that we build a humidified storage area for the art and fund programs for the art. I’m like, whoa, if I had money, I’d be building something for my patients and staff, not for the art. But I thought there must be a way to bring these two things together to form a bond of using the art collection in a way that furthers our mission. And that’s where philanthropy, and in particular the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, came in — because we needed a way to bridge this gap.

RICK LUFTGLASS

In 2018, in our initial meetings with CEO Mitchell Katz and his team, we explored H+H’s needs, priorities, and ideas. Was there an interest in connecting the arts to their healthcare mission? Were there existing programs? And they told us “We have an enormous art collection; we have arts programs that benefit patients, but they are disparate and not coordinated centrally. We have arts programs that are community facing, not system wide. But we have nothing for staff. If the arts can help our staff, that would be our priority.”

That was a crystallizing moment for us. Since mental health was already a major focus of the Illumination Fund’s Arts in Health initiative, the issue of mental health of the hospital staff resonated with us. Physician burnout is well known, but the stigma of getting mental health support is also an impediment for seeking help. Their expressed need inspired us to move forward.

Dr. ERIC WEI

After our initial conversations with Laurie and Rick at the Illumination Fund, we put together a plan to create the Arts in Medicine department. We recruited Linh Dang, who worked at Kings County and had previously managed the arts in medicine program at Stanford University, Medical Center, to build the new department and develop the programming at H+H, not only for more patients in more facilities, but also programs specifically designed to address staff burnout and compassion fatigue to go alongside Helping Healers Heal (H3).

RICK LUFTGLASS

Linh came back to us with a system-wide strategy. The plan outlined two overarching goals:

• To replicate and expand specific arts-based programs to reach facilities that were otherwise underserved.
• To create new programs to engage staff in activities that would relieve stress, foster collaboration, improve the work environment, build organizational pride, improve patients’ experiences, and increase community engagement.

Our initial $1.5 million grant was the largest in our Arts in Health initiative. In February of 2019 we announced the partnership at a press conference with former First Lady Chirlane McCray.

Dr. MITCHELL KATZ

Art is one of the things that causes awe. Awe is good for people’s mental health. Awe makes people enjoy their workplace. Coming to work feeling good about your job makes you a better caretaker. You want happy patients, you need happy doctors, happy nurses, happy social workers. So, part of the answer to that was to get the art collection out of storage, get it into the facilities and use it now. I think that was big goal one. The art provokes thought, the art makes people feel like they have a common vocabulary.

But big goal two — and again, I give a lot of credit to Laurie and the Illumination Fund for helping us see this — was to bring people together to make new art. The collection is large and important, but it was not relevant to everybody in Health + Hospitals. It was not a living collection. It was not growing. To make the collection relevant we had to find a way to involve everyone in it, including our hospital communities.

HHArt of Medicine is a signature program to address staff burnout and compassion fatigue. Credit: NYC Health + Hospitals

Decades of Murals:
Georgette Seabrooke (NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, 1937), Romare Bearden (NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, 1976), Keith Haring (NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull, 1986), Imani Shanklin Roberts (NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull, 2020). Credit: NYC Health + Hospitals

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Chapter 2. The Role of the Arts in:

Combatting Mental Health Stigma

Although mental illness is common, the perceived stigma associated with it can produce a sense of hopelessness and shame, undermine personal accomplishment, negatively impact individuals and families, and keep people from seeking help. According to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, “40% of adult New Yorkers with a serious mental illness acknowledged that although they needed treatment, they either did not receive it or delayed seeking help.” [LINK] There is public stigma, which is the bias from the public, and self-stigma, which is the internalization of negative attitudes. Untreated mental health conditions can contribute to substance abuse, incarceration, homelessness, unemployment, and suicide.

The arts can have a significant effect on diminishing stigma and building understanding and engagement. A leading expert on stigma, Dr. Patrick Corrigan, has identified several key ingredients of effective anti-stigma initiatives, including sharing stories about personal challenges, hearing from people with “lived experiences,” face-to-face contact that includes a common goal, and having an uplifting message. Those ingredients undergird programs that the Illumination Fund supports through the Arts in Health initiative.

• Teens and young adults in 95 countries submitted 4,600 films to a mental health film competition to foster discussions combat stigma.
• Events with Broadway stars connected 9,000+ people of color to free mental health resources.
• Interactive theater sparked culturally relevant dialogue about mental health in Latinx communities.

Addressing Trauma

Trauma can be caused by experiencing or witnessing life-threatening or violent events. It can also be the result of prolonged or repeated exposure to injurious conditions. Trauma has a profound effect on individuals, families, and communities, with a disproportionate impact in low-income and communities of color. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated and amplified longstanding health and mental health disparities, and brought new ones driven by high rates of infection, hospitalizations, deaths, unemployment, domestic violence, homelessness, and pre-existing unmet mental health needs.

Creative expression can be a tool to help individuals and communities by aiding with coping and recovery, building understanding of critical issues, promoting wellness and resilience, developing social bonds, connecting to services, and reducing stigma so barriers to care are decreased.

In a nationally representative poll that the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund commissioned, 87% of Americans surveyed said they believe that the arts can help people recovering from a traumatic event such as abuse, a serious accident or injury, or violence, compared to 13% who did not think the arts would be helpful.

• Intimate partner violence contributed toward reductions in PTSD symptoms and psychological distress, improved mood, and reduced tension.
• Healthcare providers who participated in The Nurse Antigone and Theater of War Frontline reported that they gained new insights about their experiences during the pandemic and that post-performance discussions made it easier to talk about difficult topics.
• Refugee women survivors of sexual and gender-based violence who participated in group therapy and the making of story cloths demonstrated a reduction of depression, anxiety, and trauma-related stress.

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Chapter 3. The Role of the Arts in
Addressing Aging-Related Diseases

Engagement in the arts can be a critical tool to help people cope with illness and improve their outlook and quality of life. Engagement in the arts also decreases isolation and builds community not only for the person living with an illness, but for family and caregivers.

Aging-related diseases cut across social, ethnic, and economic boundaries. However, there is a wide gap in services and quality of life for aging populations in New York between those with financial resources and those without. Support from the Illumination Fund has helped organizations serve more people, build capacity within their organizations, and level the playing field.

In the national poll that the Illumination Fund commissioned, 82% believe the arts are helpful in coping with age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, in contrast to 18% who believe the arts are not helpful.

• Programs for adults with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers use art observation and art-making to provide positive emotional and cognitive experiences, enhance verbal and non-verbal communication, and reduce isolation
• Dance and movement classes for people with Parkinson’s disease and their care partners improve balance, cognition, motor skills, mental health, and physical confidence
• Hospital artists in residence contribute to a richer employee and patient experience and cultivate empathy and communication between patients and their healthcare providers

The arts can help address isolation for caregivers and patients, and provide important stimulation and activity. Credit: Arts & Minds

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Endnotes

Developing the Arts in Health initiative

1. Eddie Torres, “The Role of Arts and Culture in Health,” Grantmakers in the Arts, Accessed May 23, 2019, https://www.giarts.org/blog/eddie/role-arts-and-culture-health

2. Cara James, “NeuroArts Blueprint,” Aspen Institute, Accessed 2021, https://neuroartsblueprint.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/NeuroArtsBlue_ExSumReport_FinalOnline_spreads_v32.pdf

3. “Household Pulse Survey, 2020–2024. Anxiety and Depression,” National Center for Health Statistics, accessed on September 16, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/mental-health.htm

4. “Fauci: Coronavirus Is Shining a Bright Light on Health Disparities,” C-SPAN, Accessed April 7, 2020, https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4867412/user-clip-fauci-coronavirus-is-shining-bright-light-health-disparities

5. “COVID Data Tracker,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accessed September 17, 2024, https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

6. Anthony Fauci, “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over…but It’s Never Over.” New England Journal of Medicine (November 26 2022), https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2213814

7. Corrine Thompson, Jennifer Baumgartner, Carolina Pichardo, et al. “COVID-19 Outbreak — New York City, February 29–June 1, 2020.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 69 (2020): 1725–1729. http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6946a2

8. Lunna Lopes, Ashley Kirzinger, Grace Sparks, Mellisha Stokes, and Mollyann Brodie, “KFF/CNN Mental Health in America Survey: Findings,” Kaiser Family Foundation, effective October 05, 2022, https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-cnn-mental-health-in-america-survey-findings/

9. Vivek Murthy, MD. Onstage conversation with Oprah Winfrey. UCLA, May 4. 2023 (retrieved September 29, 2024) https://www.uclahealth.org/news/article/oprah-winfrey-us-surgeon-general-vivek-murthy-headline-wow

10. “Behavioral Health Needs Are Largely Unmet Across the U.S.,” Pew Charitable Trusts, effective May 22, 2024, https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/data-visualizations/2024/behavioral-health-needs-are-largely-unmet-across-the-us

11. Meghan Hamwey, Christina Norman, Rachel Suss, et al, “State of Mental Health of New Yorkers,” New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, effective May, 2024, https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/mh/state-of-mental-health-new-yorkers.pdf

12. Lunna Lopes, Ashley Kirzinger, Grace Sparks, Mellisha Stokes, and Mollyann Brodie, “KFF/CNN Mental Health in America Survey: Findings,” Kaiser Family Foundation, effective October 05, 2022, https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-cnn-mental-health-in-america-survey-findings/

13. D. Fancourt and S. Finn, “What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review.” WHO Regional Office for Europe: Health Evidence Network Synthesis Report, no.67 (2019), https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289054553

14. Daisy Fancourt and Saoirse Finn, What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review (Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2019), Health Evidence Network synthesis report, No. 67. 2. RESULTS, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553778/

15. NeuroArts Blueprint: Advancing the Science of Arts, Health, and Wellbeing, The Aspen Institute, (November 2021), https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/NeuroArtsBlue_Vol2_ExSumReport_v24spreads.pdf

16. NeuroArts Blueprint: Advancing the Science of Arts, Health, and Wellbeing, The Aspen Institute, (November 2021), https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/NeuroArtsBlue_Vol2_ExSumReport_v24spreads.pdf

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Insights

17. Olga Tarasov, Melissa A. Berman, and Renee Karibi-White, “Operating Archetypes: Philanthropy’s New Analytical Tool for Strategic Clarity,” 2022, https://www.rockpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Operating-Archetypes-Philanthropys-New-Analytical-Tool-for-Strategic-Clarity-2.pdf

What Does Impact Look Like?

18. Yasemin Özümerzifon, Allison Ross, Tessa Brinza, Gina Gibney, and Carol Ewing Garber, “Exploring a Dance/Movement Program on Mental Health and Well-Being in Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence During a Pandemic.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, (May 26, 2022), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35722545

19. Judith Bek, Aline I. Arakaki, Fleur Derbyshire-Fox, Gayathri Ganapathy, Mathew Sullivan, and Ellen Poliakoff, “More than Movement: Exploring Motor Simulation, Creativity and Function in Co-developed Dance for Parkinson’s.” Frontiers in Psychology (February 28, 2022), https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.731264/full

20. Li-Li Wang, Cai-Jie Sun, Yan Wang, Ting-Ting Zhan, Juan Yuan, Cong-Ying Niu, Jie Yang, Shan Huang, Ling Cheng, “Effects of dance therapy on non-motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” Aging Clin Exp Res, no.34 (November 2021): 1201-1208), https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40520-021-02030-7

21. Elizabeth Norton, Ann Hemingway, and Caroline Ellis Hill, “The Meaning and Impact on Well-Being of Bespoke Dancing Sessions for Those Living with Parkinson’s,” International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, no. 1 (December 2023): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37559339/

Chapter 2: Mental Health

22. “NYC Vital Signs,” New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (June 2015), https://home.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/survey/survey-2015serious-mental-illness.pdf

23. “Prison Policy Initiative, “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019,” Last modified March 19, 2019, https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/youth2019.html

24. “Kids,” National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), accessed August 1, 2024, https://www.nami.org/your-journey/kids-teens-and-young-adults/kids/#:~:text=Mental%20health%20conditions%20are%20very,before%20the%20age%20of%2024

25. Vanessa Pinfold, Graham Thornicroft, Peter Huxley, Paul Farmer, “Active ingredients in anti-stigma programmes in mental health,” International Review of Psychiatry, (Summer 2009): 123-131, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16194782/

26. “Mental Health,” U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, accessed August 15, 2024, https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/

27. Britt Stigler, “How Gibney Dance Studios Expanded More Than Just Their Footprint,” October 3, 2019, https://www.allarts.org/2019/10/gibney-dance-studios-expanded-more-than-just-their-footprint/

28. All Arts TV, “How Gibney Dance Studios Expanded More Than Just Their Footprint,” October 3, 2019, video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10m6cD3ipgg&t=79s

29. “Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Resource for Action: A Compilation of the Best Available Evidence,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017, accessed August 1, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/ipv-prevention-resource_508.pdf

30. Julie Wertheimer-Meier & Edward Hill, “Rates of Intimate Partner Violence Across New York City: An Intersectional Analysis,” NYC Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, September 2022, https://www.nyc.gov/assets/ocdv/downloads/pdf/Community-District-FA-IPV-Final-Report.pdf

31. “Domestic Violence: Recent Trends in New York,” Office of Budget and Policy Analysis of the New York State Comptroller, October 2023, accessed August 1, 2024, https://www.osc.ny.gov/files/reports/pdf/domestic-violence-recent-trends-10-23.pdf

32. Katherine M. Iverson, Ph.D., “Addressing the Stress and Trauma of Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence,” US Department of Veterans’ Affairs National Center for PTSD, accessed August 1, 2024, https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/type/intimate_partner_violence.asp

33. “Impact Report: COVID-19 and Domestic Violence Trends,” Council on Criminal Justice National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, accessed August 1, 2024, https://counciloncj.org/impact-report-covid-19-and-domestic-violence-trends/

34. Yasemin Özümerzifon, Allison Ross, Tessa Brinza, Gina Gibney, Carol Ewing Garber, “Exploring a Dance/Movement Program on Mental Health and Well-Being in Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence During a Pandemic,” Frontiers in Psychiatry, May 26, 2022, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35722545/

35. “Reporting Center Data,” Stop AAPI Hate, accessed August 16, 2024, https://stopaapihate.org/explore-our-data

36. “National Latino and Asian American Study,” Mass General Research Institute, accessed August 16, 2024, https://www.massgeneral.org/mongan-institute/centers/dru/research/past/nlaas

37. “Stop AAPI Hate Mental Health Report,” Stop AAPI Hate, May 27, 2021, https://stopaapihate.org/2021/05/27/press-statement-mental-health-report/

38. “New Report: Elderly Asian Americans Report Significant Fear of Physical Assault, Stress and Anxiety,” Stop AAPI Hate, last modified May 24, 2022, https://stopaapihate.org/2022/05/24/release-elder-report-2022/

39. “Mental and Behavioral Health – Asian Americans,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, accessed August 30, 2024, https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/mental-and-behavioral-health-asian-americans

40. Boreth Ly, Traces of Trauma: Cambodian Visual Culture and National Identity in the Aftermath of Genocide (University of Hawaii Press).

41. “From Innovation to Integration,” City of New York, accessed August 15, 2024, https://mentalhealth.cityofnewyork.us/integration

42. Patrick Corrigan, PsyD, “Fighting the stigma of mental illness, with Patrick Corrigan, PsyD,” interviewed by Kim Mills, Speaking of Psychology, American Psychological Association, February 2022, https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/mental-illness-stigma

43. “Survey: Americans Becoming More Open About Mental Health,” American Psychological Association, last modified May, 2019, https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/05/mental-health-survey

44. “Forum Theater,” Involve UK, accessed July 31, 2024, https://www.involve.org.uk/resource/forum-theatre

45. Aaron Samuel Breslow, PhD, Sherry Simkovic, BA, Peter J. Franz, PhD, Elizabeth Cavic, EdM, MA, Qi Liu, PhD, Natalie Ramsey, MD, PhD, Jonathan E. Alpert, MD, PhD, Benjamin Le Cook, PhD, and Vilma Gabbay, MD, “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19-Related Stressor Exposure and Adverse Mental Health Outcomes Among Health Care Workers”, The American Journal of Psychiatry, no. 12 (November 9, 2023), https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/appi.ajp.20220180

46. “Latinx/Hispanic Communities and Mental Health.” Mental Health America, accessed August 1, 2024, https://www.mhanational.org/issues/latinxhispanic-communities-and-mental-health

47. Ibid.

48. “Health of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Living in New York City,” NYC Health, December 2021, https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/episrv/indigenous-peoples-health-2021.pdf

49. “Indigenous,” National Alliance on Mental Illness, accessed August 16, 2024, https://www.nami.org/your-journey/identity-and-cultural-dimensions/indigenous/

50. German Lopez and Ashley Wu, “Covid’s Toll on Native Americans,” New York Times, September 8, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/briefing/covid-death-toll-native-americans.html

51. Rhitu Chaterjee, “Hit Hard by COVID, Native Americans come together to protect families and elders,” NPR, November 24, 2021, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/11/24/1058675230/hit-hard-by-covid-native-americans-come-together-to-protect-families-and-elders

52. “Global Refuge calls for additional protections and support for unaccompanied migrant children,” Global Refuge, October 27, 2023, https://www.globalrefuge.org/news/lirs-calls-for-additional-protections-and-support-for-unaccompanied-migrant-children/

53. Camilo Montoya-Galvez, “Immigration Unaccompanied Migrant Children Record Numbers in U.S. Shelter System,” CBS News, October 14, 2022, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-unaccompanied-migrant-children-record-numbers-us-shelter-system/

55. Charlaine Lasse, MSN, RN, RNC-NIC, “A Chorus of Nursing Voices and the Timeless Truths of Ancient Tragedy,” Off the Charts, (April 11, 2024), https://ajnoffthecharts.com/a-chorus-of-nursing-voices-and-the-timeless-truths-of-ancient-tragedy/

56. Kimberlyn Leary, Ph.D. Mental Health and Girls of Color. The Center on Gender Justice & Opportunity at Georgetown Law, 2020. Accessed August 16, 2024, https://genderjusticeandopportunity.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Mental-Health-and-Girls-of-Color.pdf

57. “Young Women of Color and Mental Health,” The Center for Law and Social Policy, last modified 2018, https://www.clasp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2018_mentalhealth.pdf

Chapter 3: Aging-Related Diseases

58. “What Is Dementia?” Alzheimer’s Association, accessed August 17, 2024, https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia

59. “Alzheimer’s Facts and Figures,” Alzheimer’s Association, accessed August 17, 2024, https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf

60. Jack C Lennon, Stephen L Aita, Victor A Del Bene, Tasha Rhoads, Zachary J Resch, Janelle M Eloi, Keenan A Walker, “Black and White individuals differ in dementia prevalence, risk factors, and symptomatic presentation,” Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, (Summer 2022), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34854531/

61. ”Asian Languages in New York City,” American Asian Federation, accessed August 17, 2024, https://www.aafederation.org/research/asian-languages-in-new-york-city/

62. Ruthann Richter, “A New Rhythm Dance benefits Parkinson’s patients,” Stanford Medicine Magazine, February 17, 2017, http://stanmed.stanford.edu/dance-for-parkinsons-disease-at-the-stanford-neuroscience-health-center/

63. “Research,” Dance for Parkinson’s, accessed August 17, 2024, https://danceforparkinsons.org/resources/research/

64. “Health of Older Adults in New York City,” NYC Health, 2019, https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/episrv/2019-older-adult-health.pdf

65. “Silver Study Among Older New Yorkers: Summary of Findings Round 2,” icap Global Health, 2022, https://icap-aws-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/icapcolumbiau/wp-content/uploads/SILVER-Study-Round-2.pdf

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Authors and Credits

Including print, web and video

Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
Laurie M. Tisch
Rick Luftglass
Kira Pritchard
Jan Rothschild

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Sanya Mirpuri
Naamah Paley Rose
Amy Holmes

Contributors
Michelle Bae
Susan Magsamen
Latanya Mapp

Interviews
Rachel Cohen, Common Threads Project
Bryan Doerries, Theater of War
Carlita Ector, Darkness RISING Project
Vesna Golic, Common Threads Project
Karen Gormandy, Fountain House
Carolyn Halpin-Healy, Arts & Minds
Victoria Hristoff, Artistic Noise
Sarah Johnson, Carnegie Hall
Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals
David Leventhal, Mark Morris/Dance for PD®
Arnaldo López, Pregones/PRTT
Jorge Merced, Pregones/PRTT
James Noble, Arts & Minds
Yasemin Özümerzifon, Gibney
Liz Rubel, The Creative Center
Cris Scorza, Whitney Museum of American Art
Larissa Trinder, NYC Health + Hospitals
Eric Wei, NYC Health + Hospitals
Rachel Weisman, Fountain House
John Williams, Community Access
Calder Zwicky, Artistic Noise

Design and Graphics
Design: In-House International (weareinhouse.com)
Art Direction: Lope Gutierrez-Ruiz
Senior Designers: Alex Wright, Louis Charles Round

Printed at Branded Visual Solutions, Bohemia, NY
Cover: #120 Sylvamo Accent Cover
Book Block: #100 Sylvamo Accent Text

Copyediting
Nora Connor

Cover and Back Cover
Detail from Circle of Life, mural by Sophia Chizuco at NYC Health + Hospitals/Carter, 2019. Photo by Nicholas Knight

(c) 2024 Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund All rights reserved

Videography
Accompanying videos can be found on the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund website
Richard Davis
David Schulder

Arts in Health Initiative Grantees & Links

2018 – 2024

Across all programs.

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