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Seven new murals unveiled this year at NYC Health + Hospitals

Date

December 27, 2023
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In 2023 seven stunning new murals were added to the NYC Health + Hospitals system through the Community Mural Project, a flagship of the Arts in Medicine program.

Joined by the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, NYC Health + Hospitals unveiled the new murals at hospitals, long-term care facilities, and community health centers in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. The new murals expanded upon the 26 murals that were created during the first phase of the Community Mural Project in 2019-2021.

The Community Murals Project is a flagship of the public hospital system’s Arts in Medicine program, which seeks to foster the emotional well-being, promote healing, wellness, and engagement of patients, families, employees, and the greater health system’s community by integrating all disciplines of the arts such as literary, visual and performing arts throughout the public hospital system.

The NYC Health + Hospitals Community Mural Project is designed to encourage creativity, lower stress, build trust and increase engagement between hospitals and members of their surrounding communities. The murals also create spaces for joy as well as healing for patients and medical workers.

The artists, who were selected from among hundreds of applicants, developed the concepts for each of the murals through virtual focus groups with staff, as well as patients and community members, and then brought to life in designated paint sessions.

The Community Mural Project is believed to be the country’s largest public hospital mural program since the 1930s, when the depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissioned murals in public buildings, including virtually every hospital in New York City’s public healthcare system.

The WPA murals also provided the start of the start of NYC Health + Hospitals art collection, which now is the city’s largest public art collection and includes more than 7,000 pieces of art of multiple disciplines. The art collection is used to enhance the healthcare environment, inspire creativity, promote wellness, increase access to the arts, and engage staff.