In January 2022, the University of Houston hosted a half-day launch event for the partnership between the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts and the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine with the World Health Organization and the London-based non-profit CULTURUNNERS, entitled The Future is Unwritten: Healing Arts. The conference was held from September 29 through October 1, entitled “Innovations in Arts and Health: Collaborating for Medical Humanities, Professional Development, and Community Health.”

The conference featured research presentations, workshops, demonstrations, policy discussions, performances and art exhibitions. Topics included the combination of visual art and music therapy, the use of visual arts in clinical and community settings, and the importance of self-care for caregivers during the pandemic.

Featured speakers included Christopher Bailey, Arts and Health Lead for the World Health Organization; Todd Frazier, Director of the Center for Performing Arts Medicine at Houston Methodist Hospital; Houston-based artist, Macarthur Fellow, and University of Houston Professor of Art Rick Lowe; interdisciplinary artist Lisa Harris; Kirsten Ostherr, Gladys Louise Fox Professor of English and Director of the Medical Humanities Program at Rice University; and Aisha Siddiqui, founder of Culture of Health – Advancing Together (“CHAT”), a non-profit that fosters the health and wellbeing of immigrant and refugee communities through education, arts, advocacy, and access to care.

The conference was open to the public, as well as members of academic, institutional and medical education communities, and professional and community-based artists and arts organizations across Houston. Continuing medical education credit was available for physicians.

The event was part of a series of local “activation” events organized for The Future is Unwritten: Healing Arts series, which was designed as part of the global response to the mental-health crisis amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, with additional events occurring in London, Paris, Venice, New York, Palm Beach, and Jaipur between November 2020 and October 2022.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) believes the arts and humanities play a unique and vital role in equipping physicians for 21st-century challenges. By integrating arts and humanities throughout medical education, the AAMC says physicians can learn to be better observers and interpreters, and build empathy, communication and teamwork skills.

The conference was a valuable opportunity for healthcare professionals, artists, and the general public to gain a deeper understanding of how the arts and health spheres interact and make each other better. For more information, visit the “Innovation in Arts and Health” website.