Creative Action: The Arts in Public Health

The Arts, including documentaries, drama, photography, mural art, poetry, etc., are often employed to bring public health issues to the forefront in a provocative and memorable way that inspires action.

For this academic year, 2009-2010, the Center for Public Health Initiatives has chosen the theme "Creative Action: The Arts in Public Health" for its lecture series. By showcasing artists, programs, and creative research projects that use arts and media to address public health challenges, we hope to inspire the Philadelphia public health community.

Update: in 2012, several articles based on this Seminar Series were published in the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal. Click here to read them.

 

Fall Events

Fall Events Poster
2009 Sparky Awards

• Sept 14 - Arts and Urban Transformations Impacting Health
  • with Jane Golden, Director, Philadelphia Mural Arts Program
• Sept 17 - Doc2Folk: Sampling my Suitcaes of Spoken Word
  • with Dr. Toni Yancey, Spoken Word Artist and Professor, UCLA
• Oct 7 - Visual Legal Advocacy and the Creative Use of Video by Law Students
  • with Regina Austin, Professor, Penn Law
• Nov 5th - Exhibit Opening: Health of Philadelphia Photo-documentation Project
  • with Carolyn C. Cannuscio, Assistant Professor, Penn Medicine & CPHI core faculty
• Dec 4th - Exhibit Opening: Righteous Dopefiend
  • with Philippe Bourgois, PIK Professor, Penn Anthropology/Penn Medicine and Jeff Shonberg, photographer

Spring Events Listing

• Jan 25 - Wounded Warriors and the Healing Power of Stories
  • with Dr. Gala True (VA CHERP) and Robert Patrick (Veterans History Project)
• Jan 26 - Voices from “Let Me Down Easy”
  • with Anna Deavere Smith
• Feb 8 - InterAction: Theatre-based Workshops Addressing Social Determinants of Health
  • with InterAct Theatre Company
• Mar 19 - Digital Story-Telling with “Our Stories, Our Health”
  • with Giang Nguyen (Penn Medicine)
• Apr 1-5 - Potable Art: Ceramic Filters Improving Global Health
• Apr 7 - Exhibit Opening and Presentation: "Witnesses to Hunger"
  • with Dr. Mariana Chilton (Drexel School of Public Health)

Series co-sponsors

• Arts and the City Year
• Civic House
• VA CHERP
• City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy