Two Reports on the Arts’ Impact on Community and Mental Health

The National Endowment for the Arts recently published a report on social cohesion titled WE-Making: How Arts & Culture Unite People to Work Toward Community Well-Being. This is especially important as we move beyond the pandemic, which inflicted trauma and exposed social, racial, and health inequities across the world. Music for social change programs are designed to bring communities together and increase well-being, so this report speaks directly to our field.

Also, a new report from the Canada Council on arts participation and health and well-being finds strong evidence of the connection between cultural participation and overall health and the connection between cultural participation and mental health in Canada.