Arts and Health

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"Art is a wound turned into light.” – Georges Braque, French Painter and Sculptor

The arts are more than the finishing touch of a community – they are the thread that weaves together healthy and vibrant neighborhoods. Growing evidence shows that engaging in the arts has a wide, colorful range of community health benefits, like fewer doctor visits, less reliance on prescription drugs, and greater social connection. The arts can also promote public health by bringing attention to pressing health issues, like mental health, and reducing stigma around those issues.

With a rich history in the arts and a music legacy that shaped genres from blues to country, Tennessee is making positive strides. The state ranks 21st on the Arts Vibrancy Index, a measure of how well communities support and participate in the arts. 27 of Tennessee’s 95 counties scored above average in arts vibrancy. Even more, the state’s rich cultural heritage shines through its:

9 annual film festivals
2000+ arts organizations
90 arts education organizations
21 museums offering free admission each year to military families
Above-average involvement in arts education compared to the national average

Click to Read Fact Sheet

Even as the healing power of the arts takes center stage, arts programs overall remain underfunded and undervalued. Investing in the arts is a valuable way to promote healthy, thriving communities, and there are endless ways to join the art scene.

Why are Arts Important for Community Well-Being?

Health Benefits

As a health behavior, the arts have the power to transform communities into healthier, more connected places. Whether it's through painting, music, or dance, immersing in the arts doesn't require any special talent—just your participation. Research shows that engaging in art activities even for a short time each day makes you feel happier, energized, less lonely, and more confident.

Public Health Organizations also report that the arts can prevent illness, treat chronic conditions, and even turn painful experiences into positive ones. As more research supports the value of arts in health and well-being, new arts interventions are being discovered.

One example of a new model of care that promotes arts in health is “arts on prescription,” or “social prescribing.” With this evidence-based model, doctors can refer patients to arts activities and events, cultural experiences, and time in nature. The idea is to help people find joy, build a sense of purpose, and connect with their community in healthy ways.

One study showed that patients who were socially prescribed experienced about a 10% improvement in social networks. Another report found that social prescriptions led to a 37% decrease in visits to the doctor and 27% reduction in hospital admissions, saving nearly $300 per patient.

In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health crisis due to its impact on heart disease, diabetes, mental health, and more. He noted that music has an “extraordinary, instantaneous effect” on patients, with research showing that music creates and deepens our social bonds. Like music, other art forms such as painting and dancing — and cultural practices such as engagement in faith-based communities and visiting cultural sites — offer mental health benefits such as reduced depression, anxiety, improved healing after trauma, and reduced risk for suicidality.

Arts and Public Health

Researchers, health experts, and policymakers are recognizing the growing role of the arts in addressing public health challenges. Supporting public health with public art is a way to inspire meaningful change through powerful stories, visuals and expressions. Just like how a film or poem can make us feel deeply, the arts have a unique ability to communicate, humanize, and empower health promotion and illness prevention efforts.

Erlanger, one of Tennessee’s major hospital systems, puts this into practice through therapeutic art. By displaying an art gallery throughout the hospital, Erlanger promotes a healing atmosphere for patients and their guests at all facilities.

Art forms such as sculptures, murals, memorials, festivals, and performances can:

● Promote public safety

● Foster civic engagement

● Enhance mental well-being

● Reduce stigma around sensitive health topics

Examples from across the state demonstrate the impact of public art on community well-being. In Nashville, public murals are on display across the city, featuring messages that promote self-confidence, music, arts, culture, and connection. But the impact isn’t exclusive to urban centers. Small towns across the state have adopted the practice, fostering a sense of local pride, preserving town history and culture, and highlighting local talent.

At the heart of public health is community, and that's where the arts shine. By combining creative expression with public health initiatives, we can build stronger, healthier, and more connected communities.

What are the Disparities?

Many Tennesseans face limited access to the arts because of their age, economic status, disability status, ethnicity, or where they live.

Children's engagement with the arts plays a significant role in healthy child development, especially through opportunities for arts education. Whether integrated in school programming or community settings, the arts have the power to:

· Improve cognitive and critical thinking

· Strengthen social ties

· Enhance civic engagement

Access to arts is not just about creativity—it’s also linked to better health outcomes. Participation in the arts reduces stress, improves mental health, and builds confidence. One study shows that school drama activities about nutrition and healthy eating improved children’s nutritional knowledge, healthy eating attitudes, and body image.

Engagement with the arts during childhood can also serve as a protective factor for children who have experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences. Research shows that engagement with art forms is a positive childhood experience that can be a constructive distraction for children with chronic illness, support children to process through traumatic experiences, and foster positive self-esteem and problem solving skills.

The benefits extend into adulthood: adults who had an arts education as children are 2x more likely to be involved in the arts later in life. Inclusive access to arts education equips children with lifelong skills and opportunities, enriching their lives and building healthier, more vibrant communities.

During the 2023-2024 school year,72% of public-school students in Tennessee were enrolled in arts courses. However, arts enrollment rates varied between rural and urban areas. Urban schools saw 76% of students enrolled in an arts course, while rural schools saw 61% of students enrolled in arts.

Students need access to the arts for many reasons, including increased engagement with their education. In fact, 73% of Tennessee school districts that offer arts education report higher annual attendance rates. Investing in arts opportunities for children creates brighter, healthier futures for all.

We all need strong, meaningful connections to support our mental and emotional well-being. However, 50% of older adults (60+) are at risk of social isolation. A 2022 Culture Track report highlights that older adults have a deep need for social connectedness. Whether it’s dancing, singing, poetry, or pottery making, the arts are a healthy and creative way to help older adults build meaningful relationships, spark conversations, and share new experiences.

The arts also play a role in preventing physical and cognitive issues. Adults (50+) who visit or volunteer at museums, art galleries, exhibitions, concerts, the theatre, or opera, are 2.5x less likely to experience dementia and 25% less likely to have chronic pain 10 years later. One study found that arts participation also reduced falls, doctor visits, and reliance on prescription medicine.

Some barriers can get in the way, like limited physical mobility, sensory disabilities, and lack of transportation. Removing these obstacles can make it easier for seniors to engage in the arts and experience the health benefits that come with it.

Rural areas face significant challenges in accessing both healthcare and a vibrant arts scene. Geographic isolation limits access to hospitals and cultural hubs, while economic hardships and a lack of resources—such as supportive policies, education, and broadband— hinder arts and health initiatives. In the United States, people living in the 10% most deprived or isolated areas had a 17% lower odds of engaging in the arts and a 64% lower odds of engaging in cultural activities.

Investing in the arts in rural areas remains crucial for improving community well-being. Research shows that expanding arts and culture offerings (like performing arts groups) boosts local businesses. In turn, financial gains and support for the rural arts can lead to greater job growth, civic engagement, community development, and improved health outcomes for community members.

Sometimes, words alone cannot fully capture an experience. The arts have a unique ability to convey complex subjects and experiences, offering insights into the realities of groups experiencing disparities and hardship.

Racial and ethnic minorities experience severe, widespread health disparities that manifest in higher rates of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma, heart disease, and a lower life expectancy compared to their white counterparts. While racial trauma and stress continue to result in poor health outcomes, the arts can be used as a health intervention to promote healing, improved health outcomes, and mental wellness for racial and ethnic minorities.

Art forms like theater can even help raise public health awareness in high-risk communities. In one Houston study, theater monologues in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese promoted cancer screening and early detection for underserved Black, Hispanic, and Asian individuals. After watching, over 90% of audience members correctly answered questions about breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer detection, showing the monologues increased health literacy among racial and ethnic minorities.

Funding and research can be a strong indicator of community investment for racial and ethnic minorities. While progress is being made to support arts groups, organizations led by ethnically diverse people historically have had less funding on average than primarily white organizations. This is a financial disparity that makes it difficult for minority-led arts groups, especially in rural areas, to receive recognition and thrive. Investing in a broad spectrum of cultural voices in the arts is essential to building a strong community.

What Can We Do About It?

● Partner with grassroots cultural groups, neighboring communities, or community organizations like libraries, theaters, museums, art galleries, festivals, eateries, farms, parks and gardens, or concert or orchestra halls. Consider bringing arts and culture to a non-traditional venue, like parks, hospitals, airports, and malls. 70% of Tennesseans say they enjoy the arts in these venues.

● Connect with local mental health organizations to pool resources, advocate and raise awareness about arts and health.

● Offer skill development and community training events to invest in your community members. Events can include yoga in the park, Zumba classes, painting, and pottery. This is an opportunity for leaders of your community to partner with your local County Health Council or health department to expand reach.

● Invite artists from varied backgrounds into your outreach and programming. New perspectives can enhance our understanding of different cultural values, beliefs, symbols and traditions. This can involve providing multilingual arts programs to engage more groups to participate.

● Fuse art and health through creative events. Employ artists to create artworks that promote important health issues for Tennesseans. The Tennessee Department of Health has already shown this is possible during Women’s Health Week through a partnership with The Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville (ABC) that called for awareness on women’s health and breast and lung cancer.

● Host a heritage celebration to highlight your community’s history and local art and culture, including historic cuisines, crafts, and forms of entertainment.

● Organize a cultural food festival to celebrate the diversity of your community. Encourage local restaurants, bakeries, and other eateries to participate, promote their business and share how culture influences their food.

● Develop mobile cultural programming, pop-up and temporary exhibits, and other creative experiences to diversify how Tennesseans experience culture.

● Create a youth arts studio and connect youth with local artist mentors.

● Brighten and beautify your community through gardening events. Inviting people to participate in outside activities and plant trees is great for not just your community members, but also for the local air quality.

● Host an open mic night to encourage community members to support local artists and meet new people. Find a host venue that is passionate about supporting local artists and musicians.

● Encourage clinicians to prescribe art, culture, or nature experiences to patients to support their health and well-being. Also known as “social prescription,” arts on prescription is grounded in evidence that engaging with arts, culture, and nature positively impacts mental health, physical health, social connection, and quality of life.

● Encourage rural community colleges to build beneficial partnerships with employers and organizations to generate creativity-based economic growth.

● Introduce creative placemaking to bring together community members, artists, arts and culture organizations, community developers, and other stakeholders, to use arts and cultural strategies to create vibrancy and community-led change. Creative placemaking involves focusing your efforts on local or rural cultural activities and strategically placing public art installations, fostering a strong sense of belonging and public safety. The Tennessee Arts Commission invests in creative placemaking across Tennessee (with a special focus on rural communities) through grants and partnerships.

● Promote the representation of minority-led and Indigenous arts and cultural organizations through fundraising, networking, and knowledge-sharing, and supporting grant funding.

● Help community partners provide low-income families or people with disabilities with tickets and funding to make it easier for them to participate and enjoy arts and culture. This may include funding transportation, parking and refreshments.

● Influence and develop arts-friendly policies and legislation by exploring opportunities to incorporate more arts and culture initiatives in schools and community settings.

○ In 2024, Tennessee passed legislation creating the Certified Professional Music Therapist (CPMT) credential under the Board of Examiners in Psychology. This certification ensures title and practice protection for music therapy, increasing access to safe and competent music therapy services.³⁴

● Encourage community leaders to collaborate with arts and culture organizations to promote visibility and involve more community members.

● Implement accessible community design for all. Examples of accessible community design to accommodate older adults with sensory or physical needs include:

○ Assistive listening technology to amplify sound

○ Available support at venues and seating in exhibition space

○ Accessible, tangible content such as guided tours and brochures

○ Clear wayfinding through signage, lighting, contrasting flooring, or other audible and visual cues to help older adults find their way around a space

○ Print, text, and figures that are large enough to read

○ No steep slopes or no-step entries, such as ramps, to make it easier for older adults to enter and exit a space

Community Spotlight

We’re looking for local community or health council stories that highlight projects related to Arts and Health. If you’ve got a story to share, email us at brittany.gutierrez-kitto@tn.gov.

Partners and Resources

Tennessee Arts Commission

● The Tennessee Arts Commission (TAC) was created to stimulate and encourage the presentation of the visual, literary, music and performing arts and to encourage public interest in the cultural heritage of Tennessee. The TN Arts Commission 2020-2025 Strategic Plan can be found here.

● Tennessee Arts Commission (TAC): Creative Aging Tennessee III. Creative Aging Tennessee III will expand arts programming targeted to older adults in rural and culturally specific communities by developing relationships and offering training to traditional artists, partnering with statewide groups to increase accessibility, and providing funding opportunities to increase arts programs for older adults throughout Tennessee.

● Tennessee Art Commission's (TAC) grant page can be found here.

Tennessee Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services

● Art for Awareness is an annual Tennessee celebration where community members can share their art and contribute to the awareness of recovery and the healing it brings. The event includes fun group activities, discussions around the personal meaning of art, and free art supplies for registered artists. Tennessee state legislators have an opportunity to see the artwork and learn more about the powerful role art can play in recovery.

Metro Arts

The Metro Arts Commission believes that arts drive a more vibrant and equitable community. Its staff are committed to continuously elevating community voices through several services:

● Apply for arts grant funding

● Apply to create or commission artwork

● Obtain permission to film or photograph public art

● Nominate for Arts Commission Panel

● Donate artwork to Metro

● Report art damage or vandalism

Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for US Communities

● Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for US Communities offers a roadmap for communities to develop programs that formally integrate arts, culture, and nature resources into local health and social care systems. Arts on prescription programs allow healthcare providers and social service agencies to "prescribe" arts activities, cultural experiences, and time in nature to support their patients' or clients' health, wellbeing and quality of life.

Tennessee State of the Arts Study

● The May 2024 State of the Arts (SOTA) Study was conducted during the 2021-23 school years as a comprehensive assessment of school district arts (dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts) education programs.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

● The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States. The NEA’s primary activities include grantmaking to nonprofit arts organizations, public arts agencies and organizations, colleges and universities, federally recognized tribal communities or tribes, and individual writers and translators. It is also a national leader in the field and a convener on issues important to the arts community and people working at the intersections of arts and other fields such as health, community development, and education, among others.

Healing Arts Project Inc. (HAPI)

● Healing Arts Project, Inc. (HAPI) provides artistic opportunities for persons in mental health and addiction recovery to promote healing and community awareness. HAPI exists to fill a gap in recovery and rehabilitation services by providing free art classes taught by professional artists, art exhibition and publication opportunities, and outreach events. These opportunities help participants express and externalize their personal struggles as they create art to tell their story, promoting healing in themselves and understanding in the community. HAPI serves approximately 500 individuals in mental health and addiction recovery each year. 90% say they feel greater self-confidence, comfort in social situations, ability to cope, and sense of self-worth as a result of being involved in HAPI's artistic programs.

Arts Education Data Project

● The Tennessee Arts Education Data Project uses interactive dashboards to help you explore arts data from the Department of Education. There is data about district-level arts, art disciplines, arts participation, year-over-year data, trends over time, school profiles, and even a course finder.

References

Cited Data

Americans for the Arts, Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing