art & medicine programs
Art With a Heart in Healthcare
Arts & Minds Lab (Johns Hopkins University)
Aspen Institute
Johns Hopkins University (new arts initiative)
Mayo Clinic (physicians)
Mayo Clinic Flower of Hope
Stanford University
art collections at hospitals
Contemporary art helps to create beautiful, "living" environments that also lead to art programming initiatives within hospitals.
New York-Presbyterian
New York Health + Hospitals
Mass General Brigham Martha’s Vineyard Hospital + Profile
University of Florida Health
Cedars-Sinai
Children’s Hospital Colorado
Medical University of South Carolina
Foundation for Hospital Art
How Hospital Art Collections Became Very Personal
Cleveland Clinic & pdf of collection
Article: Collection Spotlight: Fine Art is Good Medicine at Cleveland Clinic
App: Cleveland Clinic AR+
Exhibitions: Calendar
"Fine art is good medicine. It comforts, elevates the spirit, and affirms life and hope. Art in the healthcare setting, combined with outstanding care and service, creates an environment that encourages healing and supports the work of medical professionals."
Sharon Louden’s work is both in the Cleveland Clinic collection and the collection of the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
** In 2010, Sharon received a text from the daughter of a patient in the E.R. at the hospital who was looking at her work at that moment and said that it was making her father feel better, distracting from the pain he was feeling right then!
books
Transforming the Healthcare Experience Through the Arts
Artists Remaking Medicine: The practice of imagination and the power to create a better healthcare future
Creative Care: A Revolutionary Approach to Dementia and Elder Care
Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us
FUNDING
National Endowment for the Arts
The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM
Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University
Wellbeing through Art at Harvard
The Foundation for Art and Healing
CDC Foundation
HEALTH CARE/WELL-BEING
Humanizing the Workplace: What Does Art Have to Do with Business? (Video discussion between Adam Rosendahl, Ivy Ross, and Susan Magsamen, May 21, 2025)
Article: “Arts and crafts give greater life satisfaction than work, survey suggests” (The Guardian, 2024)
Review: “What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being?” (National Library of Medicine, 2019)
Review: “Engaging the Arts for Wellbeing in the United States of America” (National Library of Medicine, Feb 2022)
Article: “The power of healing: new WHO report shows how arts can help beat noncommunicable diseases” (WHO, Nov 2023)
Article: ”Strengthening Mental Health through The Arts” (Americans for the Arts, 2021)
Article: “Healing, Bridging, Thriving: A Reflection on the Intersection of Arts and Health” (NEA, July 2024)
Article: “How Art Can Benefit Your Mental Health” (NY Times, May 2023)
New York Creative Therapists
The People Concern
Americans for the Arts: Arts in Health
nursing & the arts
Study: Arts-based Pedagogy Effect on Nursing Competence
“Nursing practice requires a complex set of competencies, including clinical skills, interpersonal abilities, and humanistic practice [33]. Arts-based pedagogy has been used to address many of these competencies. Researchers suggest that arts-based nursing education can assist future nurses in developing a professional identity. The arts are believed to enhance critical thinking, diagnostic skills, and communication abilities."
Article: How the Arts Can Support Clinical Staff
“While the arts are not a panacea, the arts and artists are available resources that can help humanize and bring beauty and meaning to both the environment and practices of care. Artists are invaluable members of the interprofessional care team who can enhance the provision of patient-centered care.”
REPORTS
“Arts Strategies for Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Examining the Evidence” (NEA, October 2020)
”What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being?” (WHO, 2019)
”Creativity in later life” (NIH, 2014)
”Creative Art: Connection to Health and Well-Being” (Scientific Research, 2022)
”The State of The Arts in Healthcare in the U.S.” - PDF, (Arts & Health, 2009)