2020 in Review: How the Arts Impacted Our Health
As the world struggled to contain the coronavirus, the arts could not be stopped.
A cascade of creativity outbreaks emerged after pandemic restrictions like stay-at-home orders took effect. Italians sang in grief and solidarity from their balconies during lockdown. People turned to the therapeutic arts of baking, gardening and needlework, resulting in widely reported shortages of flour, seeds and thread.
Healthcare workers used music to comfort critical patients, celebrate those who recovered and take a break from serving on the frontlines. And with the help of artists worldwide, people found new and creative ways to express themselves together at a distance.
Four months into the pandemic, the data began to paint a dispiriting picture. Our mental health had taken a severe hit, for some more than others. But it appeared that the embrace of the arts, both individually and collectively, was a key protective factor—a way to cope and stay resilient in the face of tremendous strain and anxiety.
Was this unconscious return to the arts highlighting something essential to our collective wellbeing?
We will be unpacking that question for years to come, but there is no denying that the pandemic has forced us to slow down, take stock and invest in things that make us feel whole, human and connected.
Read on to see how the arts impacted our health and wellbeing in a year for the history books, 2020.
While most museums close their doors to visitors, a new global gallery arrives online. The COVID Art Museum opens on Instagram as a place to document and preserve artists' responses to the pandemic.
Stuck at home with time on their hands, people take up their video game controllers and enter a whimsical world of critters in Animal Crossing. The feel-good game provides moments of escape and connection.
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In-person choir performances are banned as superspreader events, but singing for solace, comfort and connection continues. Virtual choirs, like The Sofa Singers, take to YouTube to perform, sparking joy without spreading the coronavirus.
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To keep us from going bananas, banana bread becomes all the rage.
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As public health experts urge limiting news consumption to protect our mental health, a new kind of program debuts.
SGN's 8-week run offers hope and heartwarming antidotes to the news cycle, complete with a virtual prom and graduation and crowd-pleasing reunions of casts from The Office (U.S. edition) and Hamilton.
To help stop the spread of COVID-19, the United Nations posts a call to creatives: Help us translate critical public health messages into artwork that will engage and inform people around the world.
In the U.S., design lab Amplifer issues a similar call for artwork to support public health and safety and uplift mental health and wellbeing.
The curtains drop on the planned spring season at the world-famous theater. To provide community and connection, The Globe shifts to digital offerings, including six productions for free on video-on-demand.
In a performance on "CBS This Morning," Amanda Gorman shares words of hope with her fellow Americans. Read her poem here.
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Started as a school project by a California teen, each square of the quilt commemorates the life of a person who died of COVID-19.
New reports emerge about an uptick in suicides amongst isolated and vulnerable seniors. While nursing home and assisted living residents are cut off from visitors, communities rally to boost seniors' spirits through pen pal programs and joke hotlines. Some care workers dream up a fun project recreating iconic album covers with their residents. And arts service organizations get crafty, beefing up their virtual offerings.
Google Arts & Culture teams up with Arts Council England to display art made by young people to process the pandemic. While children are cut off from school arts supplies, the Arts Council, working with its partners, manages to distribute over 36,840 Let's Create Packs to children across England.
In New York City, the "Music for The Soul" series launches, with big-name acts treating frontline healthcare workers to private concerts.
Meanwhile as clinicians continue to report burnout and fatigue, Theater of War for Frontline Medical Providers presents selected works to help struggling workers name and share their feelings.
The National Organization for the Arts in Health (NOAH) launches the ARC project, offering free expressive arts programming to help healthcare workers combat anxiety and burnout.
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When a video of George Floyd's killing by police spreads online, it lays bare another public health threat, systemic racism and injustice in the U.S. People immediately gravitate to the arts to express themselves in grief and protest. Street murals and portraits honoring Floyd and Breonna Taylor appear, protesters dance at the base of Confederate statues and a young black boy sings a heart-wrenching plea, "I Just Wanna Live".
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Are you, your loved ones or colleagues dealing with specific issues and want to learn more about art-based solutions? Are you already using the arts to help you cope? Please share your thoughts, ideas and concerns with us at [email protected].
