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LARRY O’FARRELL Professor Emeritus, Queen’s University. Chair, Board of Directors, Canadian Network for Arts and Learning
ARTS FOR SDGS WEBINAR ON ART IMPACT FOR HEALTH TO UNDERSTAND THE UNIVERSAL IMPACT OF ARTS AND HOW ARTS AND HEALTH WORK TOGETHER WHIS streamed an international webinar to discuss the opportunities for the Arts to support the Sustainable Development Goals. Hosted by Isabelle Wachsmuth, the panel looked at the advancement of research on the impact of art for health and explored examples from across the world which showed that art-based interventions and practices improved the health and wellbeing of participants and created dialogue in ways people can speak to each other.
“The Evidence is clear that participation in the arts is a powerful way to initiate physical and emotional healing. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to chip away at our sense of personal and community wellbeing, we increasingly rely on the arts to counteract ongoing anxiety as well as the adverse effects of isolation. This is especially true for children and youth who have suffered deterioration in several mental health domains including depression, anxiety, irritability, and attention span. While educational systems are justly concerned to make up for lost time in all subjects, the arts must be accorded priority status in schools and community programs to ensure that a return to in-class learning does not exacerbate any of the ill effects of the pandemic. The arts are essential to the recovery process.”
