Are you passionate about the arts?

Do you use the visual, literary or performing arts to enhance your wellbeing and/or the wellbeing of others?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time to join SOPHE’s newly formed Arts and Health Community of Practice.

I’m Ladona Tornabene and my colleague, Lisa Vogelsang, are the co-chairs of this new CoP.  You may not know us by name but you might know us as SOPHE’s conference photographers.

Here’s a snapshot of arts and health –

The National Organization for Arts in Health defines arts in health as “a broad and growing academic discipline and field of practice dedicated to using the power of the arts to enhance human health and well-being in diverse institutional and community contexts (Lambert, Betts, Rollins, Sonke, & Swanson, 2017, p. 9).

This Arts and Health Community of Practice aims to strengthen SOPHE by uniting members who have a passion for promoting the arts as being integral to health. It’s a place to interact with others who want to deepen their knowledge, share their expertise, resources and interests, partake in discussions and creative collaborations.

To say it artistically —

We are a community where each of us represents a vital thread in the glorious arts and health tapestry being continually woven by collective hands on the loom of discovery.

You can join* the new Arts and Health CoP by following these steps:

1. Log into your my.sophe account.
2. Under “Account Actions” on the right hand side of the page, click on “Demographic Info.”
3. Add Arts and Health community of practice to your demographic information.
4. Click on the tab at the top of the page that reads “Member Communities.”
5. Choose COP Forums from the drop down menu.
6. The Arts and Health section is located toward the bottom of the page.

We wish to thank SOPHE for their support in this new Arts and Health CoP and to all who signed the petition. We especially want to thank Hope Corbin for her critical role in making this CoP a reality.

In creativity & health,
Ladona and Lisa

*CoP’s are a SOPHE member benefit.

Ladona Tornabene, Ph.D., MCHES, is an associate professor in public health in the Department of Applied Human Sciences at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Lisa Vogelsang, Ph.D., is an adjunct assistant professor co-instructing with Ladona in the History of Community Health through Art and Culture in Italy, a short term study abroad program at the University of Minnesota Duluth.