Episode 2: CA Arts & Culture "Summit Arts and Health"

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CA Arts & Culture Summit Panel “Arts and Health” - Photos Courtesy of Doug Cupid Photography

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"At the structural level, we don’t make decisions based on evidence. If we did, we would have universal healthcare and basic income. The arts can be part of this shift” - Tasha Golden

Explore the powerful intersection of art and health in our exclusive interview series with California for the Arts and their State of the Arts Summit. Join moderator Deborah Cullinan, Vice President for the Arts at Stanford University, as she delves into the transformative power of art on prescription with panelists Chris Appleton (Art Pharmacy), Tasha Golden, Ph.D. (International Arts and Mind Lab), and Indre Viskontas, Ph.D. (Neuro Arts Blueprint Initiative).

Discover the evidence-based impact of arts on well-being, explore innovative programs like Stanford's Art Pharmacy, and gain practical insights into integrating arts into healthcare. Don't miss this essential conversation for artists, healthcare providers, and advocates alike.

Watch and Listen now and be inspired to champion the arts for a healthier future!

Nefesha Yisra'el-Dir. Program,California for the Arts

Nefesha Yisra’el - Director of Program, California for the Arts NeFesha is an arts professional and advocate with a belief in the transformative and healing power of the arts. NeFesha worked as an Arts Administrator and Community Organizer in Philadelphia, PA, before moving to Fresno, CA, to work with a startup nonprofit called Royal Roots. NeFesha’s experience in nonprofit and creative community development led her to consult with Fresno- based nonprofit organizations such as Another Level Training Director of Programs Academy, and she served as the executive director at the African American Historical and Cultural Museum of the San Joaquin Valley. NeFesha serves as the Arts Facet Chair for the Fresno (CA) Chapter of the Links, Incorporated.

NeFesha founded Black Folk Art, Arts and Culture Magazine, a platform dedicated to preserving and celebrating African American heritage. Additionally, she participated in the Museum Professionals Seminar with the Studio Museum in Harlem, further honing her skills and expanding her perspective on art and museum practices. NeFesha earned her B.A. in Fashion Design and Merchandising from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and her M.A. in Urban Studies from Eastern University, where she is currently advancing her scholarly pursuits as a Ph.D. student in Organizational Leadership.

Deborah Cullinan-VP for the Arts, Stanford University

Deborah Cullinan is one of the nation’s leading thinkers on the pivotal role artists and arts organizations can play in shaping our social and political landscape, and has spent years mobilizing communities through arts and culture. She joined Stanford University in early 2022 as the first full-time vice president for the arts. Previously, she was CEO of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), where she launched several bold new programs, engagement strategies, and civic coalitions. Prior to joining YBCA in 2013, she was the executive director of San Francisco’s Intersection for the Arts. She is a co- founder of CultureBank, board member of the Community Arts Stabilization Trust and EPA CENTER, and recently served as co-chair of the San Francisco Arts Alliance and vice chair of the Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy. 

She was the inaugural National Field Leader in Residence at Arizona State University’s National Accelerator for Cultural Innovation and a former innovator-in-residence at the Kauffman Foundation. She served on Mayor London Breed’s San Francisco Economic Recovery Task Force and also on Governor Gavin Newsom’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery. Her passion for using art and creativity to shift culture and advance equity and justice has made her a sought-after speaker at events and conferences around the world.

Chris Appleton-Founder & CEO, Arts Pharmacy

Chris Appleton is the Founder and CEO of Art Pharmacy, a healthcare technology company solving America’s mental health crisis. Appleton’s vision for Art Pharmacy imagines the U.S. healthcare ecosystem adopting arts-based social prescribing as a critical part of an impact-driven mental health field. Appleton’s strong commitment to servant leadership, family, and civic engagement has led him to be bestowed numerous awards and honors, including the Americans for the Arts National Emerging Leader Award, Emory Center for Creativity and the Arts Community Impact Award, Atlanta Business Chronicle 40 Under 40, Georgia Trend’s 100 Notable Georgians, World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers, New Leaders Council Alumni Award, 2019 Class of Leadership Atlanta and Outstanding Atlanta Class of 2014. Appleton is a member of the Grady Hospital Ambassador Force Advisory Board, creating awareness and providing vital support for the Grady Health System. Appleton has served on numerous additional boards including the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board, Americans for the Arts Emerging Leaders Council, Atlanta Celebrates Photography, Alliance Theatre Advisory Board, Health Connect South Advisory Board and more. He is also co-founder of Vote with Dignity, an all-volunteer voter advocacy organization working to improve the voting experience through line warming and neighborhood engagement.

At the heart of Chris’s life’s work, he believes that lasting, sustainable change happens when people work across boundaries and barriers. Appleton and his wife, Annie, who works for Sartain Lanier Family Foundation, live in Atlanta with their two young children. He is currently completing his MBA at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Appleton’s passions include long-distance running, baking, and hosting dinner parties.

Dr. Tasha Golden,Ph.D.-Director of Research, Intl. Arts+Mind Lab, Johns Hopkins University

Tasha Golden, PhD is a singer/songwriter turned public health scientist, and a leading expert in Creativity and Wellbeing. She was the first Director of Research for the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, is adjunct faculty for the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine, and lead author of “Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for US Communities.”

Holding a PhD in Public Health, Dr. Golden has published extensively on art’s many health impacts. She now speaks and consults around the world—helping clients and audiences apply the science to advance wellbeing, connection, innovation, and positive change.

Golden’s work is shaped by her early experiences as a career artist and entrepreneur. As singer-songwriter for the critically acclaimed band Ellery, she toured internationally, with songs in TV and film (ABC, SHOWTIME, FOX, NETFLIX, etc). But when severe burnout and depression ended her music career, she began raising questions about mental health, creativity, and wellbeing that led to her PhD, ongoing research, and global work as a speaker and consultant.

Golden is a published poet (Humanist Press), founder of Project Uncaged: a trauma-informed creative writing program for incarcerated girls, and developer of “How We Human”: a training in Mental Health and Trauma-Informed Practice designed for creatives. She has spoken for SXSW, the US Conference of Mayors, POLITICO, and CogX, among many others, and is a frequent guest on top podcasts related to business, health, and the arts.

Leveraging her research and background, Golden helps clients and audiences raise their own new questions—linking science and creativity to grow their work. Find out more about Dr. Golden through her LinkedIn profile and the background below. 

Dr. Indre Viskontas, Ph.D.-Cognitive Neuroscientist, Science Communicator & Opera Stage Director

Dr. Indre Viskontas, MM, PhD, is a neuroscientist, musician, opera stage director and science communicator across all mediums. Combining a passion for music with scientific curiosity, she is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of San Francisco where she runs The Creative Brain Lab and is on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She leads the Communications Core at the Sound Health Network, promoting research and public awareness of the impact music can have on our health and well-being and is the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board at the NeuroArts Blueprint.

She is also the President-Elect of the Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity. She has written more than 50 academic publications on the neural basis of memory, musicand creativity. She was recently an Osher Fellow at the California Academy of Sciences, investigating the impact of conservation photography on climate action. Her work has been featured in Oliver Sacks’book Musicophilia, Nature: Science Careers, Nautilus, Discover Magazine and other outlets.

Her book, How Music Can Make You Better, was published by Chronicle Books. She has co-hosted several TV and web series, and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, PBS NewsHour, major radio stations across the US, including NPR’s City Arts & Lectures and the CBC’s The Sunday Edition. She is the host of the popular science podcast Inquiring Minds, host and creator of the podcast Cadence: what music tells us about the mind, a Webby Awards Honoree, and the host and writer of the Audible Original podcast Radiant Minds: the World of Oliver Sacks. She often gives keynote talks and has created four 24-lecture courses for The Great Courses/Wondrium called Essential Scientific Concepts, Brain Myths Exploded, How Digital Technology Shapes Us and Creativity and Your Brain. Find out more at Indre’s website and organizational background information below.

Art Pharmacy

Based in Atlanta, GA, Art Pharmacy is a tech-enabled healthcare company that works with managed care plans, health systems, and community partners to address the mental health crisis through social prescribing. Art Pharmacy currently provides services in California, Georgia and Massachusetts and is working to expand its offerings in all 50 states. Art Pharmacy enables health care providers to prescribe evidence-informed arts interventions assisting patients with mental health concerns as a supplement to other forms of intervention therapies. The Art Pharmacy solution considers clinical needs, patient preference, and decades of research on which delivery modes, artistic disciplines, and participation methods are most effective for each patient. Art Pharmacy’s proprietary smart-matching technology considers clinical needs, patient preferences and decades of research to address the shortage of mental health providers while improving patient health. Art Pharmacy offers a closed-loop referral system, care plan integration, and outcomes monitoring. Art Pharmacy remains committed to reducing the operational and cost burden for payors and providers. To learn more about Art Pharmacy, visit www.artpharmacy.co

Tasha Golden

Dr. Golden is an international speaker and consultant, career singer/songwriter, and PhD health scientist. As a leading expert in Creativity and Wellbeing, I help leaders, organizations, and change-makers of all kinds link creativity with wellbeing in order to grow their work.

As a health scientist, I know that wellbeing is much more than we typically imagine. It’s a door to growth. As an artist, I know that creativity leads us to ask new questions. Growth ensues. As both, I help you uncover your unique role in wellbeing… so you can grow your work and ignite change. Find out more about Tasha’s Arts on Prescription and dive deeper into Tasha’s publications. Go to Tasha’s website to find out more and reach out to Tasha to get in touch

NeuroArts Blueprint

What is Neuroarts? The NeuroArts Blueprint: Advancing the Science of Arts, Health, and Wellbeing initiative is breaking new ground at the crossroads of science, the arts, and technology. Its mission is to cultivate an ecosystem for neuroarts, defined here as the transdisciplinary and extradisciplinary study of how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the body, brain, and behavior, and how this knowledge is translated into specific practices that advance health and wellbeing. To realize its potential, neuroarts must become a fully recognized field of research and practice, with educational and training pathways, dedicated funding, supportive public sector and private sector policies, effective leadership, wellcrafted communications strategies, and infrastructure capacity. Find out more about their programs and the NeuroArts Blueprint report on advancing the science of Arts, Health, and Wellbeing

Stanford Arts

Stanford Arts - The Vice Presidency for the Arts (VPA) is dedicated to increasing the visibility and impact of the arts at Stanford. The VPA offers extracurricular and interdisciplinary student programs, public exhibitions and performances, and central resources for navigating the arts within the university. The School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S) is the center of a liberal arts education at Stanford and houses the academic arts departments.

The Office of the Vice President for the Arts provides operational support for all of the units of the Vice President for the Arts, and operates as a central resource for students and faculty. This includes funding, space, and materials for student extracurricular arts activities; opportunities for student professional development; faculty grants; and oversight of visiting artist programs. Deborah Cullinan is the vice president for the arts and Anne Shulock is the assistant vice president for the arts.

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California For The Arts:

Mission: CFA's mission is to advance arts and culture in California by building awareness of programs and services for artists. They aim to raise awareness about the true value of the arts and help Californians across the state become advocates for the arts in government, business, and communities.

Vision: CFA envisions California as the most creative state, where artists and arts workers thrive—from designers and teachers to ballerinas and musicians.

Values: Advancing arts and culture workers' careers: They recognize that arts and culture workers are integral to California's economy, society, and communities. Their goal is to make it easy for any Californian to become an advocate for the arts. Educating Californians on the value of the arts: They circulate news, guides, and press materials to emphasize why the arts matter at a fundamental level. Engaging Californians to spread arts awareness: They encourage more Californians to become advocates for the arts. Offering arts advocacy programs across the state: They provide resources and programs for arts advocates.

California Arts Advocates:

Mission: As a sister organization to California for the Arts, California Arts Advocates ensures that the arts are represented on a legislative level. While Californians for the Arts focuses on awareness and advocacy, California Arts Advocates works specifically to ensure that arts-related issues are considered in legislation. California Arts Advocates collaborates with Californians for the Arts to promote awareness of the arts and advocate for their importance in government and policy decisions.

Both organizations play crucial roles in supporting and promoting the arts in California, from raising awareness to advocating for legislative changes that benefit artists and communities. Become a Member, Find out more about their Programs and get engaged in supporting the arts in your community. Support CFTA’s work

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