—the National Organization of Arts in Health (NOAH)
This program supports practitioners in the arts who are invested in the health and well-being of individuals and their communities.
People and communities are part of complex systems that have the capacity to thrive when all aspects of health are considered.
Arts practitioners in this field work with a wide spectrum of communities a variety of settings, including but not limited to, nonprofit and for-profit healthcare facilities, hospice programs, long-term care facilities, mental health programs, schools, rehabilitation treatment centers, special needs camps, disaster response teams, psychiatric forensic units, veterans’ facilities, prisons, community centers, wellness programs, and military bases.
Under the broad umbrella of arts and health, several disciplines have emerged which are inter-related yet distinct. The Creative Arts Therapies—these include distinct regulated health professions of art therapy, dance/movement therapy, drama therapy, music therapy, poetry therapy, and psychodrama therapy- were established between the 1930’s and 1960s in the United States. Arts in Medicine, also commonly referred to as Arts in Healthcare or Arts in Health, began to emerge as a discipline in the 1980’s. A third discipline, Arts in Public Health, is emerging in alignment with the national and global priority to enhance population health through wellness and prevention.
For more information and answers to questions, please contact:
Angela Sprunger
Assistant Professor of Instruction
School of Art & Design
Assistant Director, co-Founder
Ohio Valley Center for Collaborative Arts
Sprunger@ohio.edu