Healing, Equity, and the Arts (HEARTS)
Artivisim Series
The term ‘Artivism’ describes the umbrella that captures a portfolio of activities that leverage the arts (visual and performing) to facilitate courageous conversations on health equity and health justice, and increase bias resilience among the health care workforce (staff, faculty and trainees) within the UCLA Department of Psychiatry, DGSOM, and UCLA Health.
Goal
- Leveraging the Arts as a catalyst of change to advance health equity and health justice.
- Leveraging the Arts for bias mitigation, empathy, structural competency, social awareness, perception-taking, and developing bias resilience.
Key Goals
- Enhancing awareness and humility around topics related to racism, discrimination and bias
- Improving the organizational climate and culture
- Fostering community building
Core Activities in Development
- Artist in Residence Series, multimedia programming, extramural visits to galleries, museums and public art spaces, curator-led discussions and lectures, and collaborations with UCLA’s arts departments to bridge initiatives
Learning Objectives
Understand the Role of Art in Addressing Racism and Health Equity
- Analyze how the Artivism program leverages visual and performing arts to enhance awareness and humility in topics related to racism, discrimination, and bias.
- Explore the impact of arts-based initiatives on improving climate and culture within healthcare and academic settings.
Develop Strategies for Using Art as a Vehicle for Social Change
- Identify ways in which art can be used to build bias resistance and resilience in medical organizations.
- Design and implement arts-based programming that promotes inclusivity, community engagement, and addresses health inequities.
Collaborate on Interdisciplinary Initiatives to Promote Health Equity
- Engage with initiatives like the UCLA ART Sci program to explore the intersection of art, science, and social justice.
- Foster partnerships between medical and arts departments to develop comprehensive strategies for advancing race and health equity.
Evaluate the Effectiveness of Arts-based Programming in Transforming Organizational Culture
- Engage with cross- campus initiatives to explore the intersection of art, science, and social justice.
- Foster partnerships between medical and arts departments to develop comprehensive strategies for advancing race and health equity.
Thematic Areas of Exploration
Sample Thematic Areas of Exploration
- The Carceral State
- Broken Treaties and Indigenous Health Outcomes
- LGBTQ and Trans Mental Health, Anti-AAPI Hate and Racism
- Maternal Health Outcomes
- Access and Bias Affecting Neurodivergence
- Epigenetic Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences and Health Outcomes
- Latinx and Indigenous Women’s Health
- Climate Change, Climate Justice and Ecological Medicine
- Public Parks, Public Arts, and Public Health
Core Activities
- Artist in Residence Series, multimedia programming, extramural visits to galleries, museums and public art spaces, curator-led discussions and lectures, and collaborations with Art and Social Justice in Medical Education and Faculty Development
Graduate Medical Education and Graduate, Doctoral and Postdoctoral Education
- Art fosters empathy and emotional intelligence, helping students understand the human condition.
- Social justice integration raises awareness of systemic inequalities and social determinants of health (e.g., race, socioeconomic status).
- Holistic training encourages viewing patients as whole individuals, enhancing compassionate and equitable care.
Faculty Development
- Art deepens emotional intelligence, enabling educators to teach patient-centered care effectively.
- Social justice training equips faculty to challenge systemic healthcare inequities and advocate for institutional equity.
- Integrating art and social justice enhances teaching quality, producing empathetic, culturally competent physicians.
Impact of Art in Medical Education and Faculty Development
Structural Competency Curriculum
- Since 2019, incorporated classes at the Hammer Museum into psychiatry residency program’s orientation
- Core curriculum that emphasizes health equity, structural competency, inclusivity, implicit bias, mental health, LA-based social movements, anti-racism, and more
Impacts of Visual Art
- Highlights social determinants of health (e.g., poverty, racism, access to care) through a visceral, non-verbal lens.
- Prompts reflection on implicit biases and systemic inequalities in healthcare.
- Fosters empathy by connecting physicians to the lived experiences and resilience of marginalized populations.
Expanding Education & Wellbeing through Arts Partnerships
Partnered Events with Art Institutions, Museums, and Galleries
- Artist in Residence Series, multimedia programming, extramural visits to galleries, museums and public art spaces, community nights, curator-led discussions and lectures, and collaborations with Art and Social Justice in Medical Education and Faculty Development
Healthcare Worker Wellbeing
Why?
Racism as a Public Health Crisis
- Public Health Crisis: Recognized nationally, legislatively, and by organizations (CDC, NIH, AMA).
- Call to Action: Increase antiracism literacy in the biomedical and behavioral workforce.
- Interdisciplinary Collaboration:
- Partnerships between museums and medical schools enhance medical skills via arts observation.
- Builds empathy and understanding.
- Structural Determinants of Health:
- Legislation, institutional policies, neighborhood characteristics, social resources.
- Address root causes of health inequities for structurally vulnerable patients.
Art and Social Justice in Medical Education and Faculty Development
Medical Education
- Art fosters empathy and emotional intelligence, helping students understand the human condition.
- Social justice integration raises awareness of systemic inequalities and social determinants of health (e.g., race, socioeconomic status).
- Holistic training encourages viewing patients as whole individuals, enhancing compassionate and equitable care.
Faculty Development
- Art deepens emotional intelligence, enabling educators to teach patient-centered care effectively.
- Social justice training equips faculty to challenge systemic healthcare inequities and advocate for institutional equity.
- Integrating art and social justice enhances teaching quality, producing empathetic, culturally competent physicians.
Impact of Art in Medical Education and Faculty Development
Impacts of Visual Art
- Highlights social determinants of health (e.g., poverty, racism, access to care) through a visceral, non-verbal lens.
- Prompts reflection on implicit biases and systemic inequalities in healthcare.
- Fosters empathy by connecting physicians to the lived experiences and resilience of marginalized populations.
Community Building through Arts Partnerships
Structural Competency Curriculum
- Museum-based education partnership with the Hammer Museum at UCLA
- Since 2019, incorporated classes at the Hammer Museum into psychiatry residency program’s orientation
- Core curriculum that emphasizes health equity, structural competency, inclusivity, implicit bias, mental health, LA-based social movements, anti-racism, and more
- “Building Community and Structural Competency Through Art: An Art Museum and Psychiatry Partnership”
A Gallery of Our Flyers
