Journal of Applied Arts & Health - Art-Based Research in Health and Well-Being During the Pandemic, Mar 2022

People labelled/with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) participate in community-based studio programming across the United States, yet their experiences and preferences for studio programming are not well known. The goal of this research was to learn what artists in a community-based studio think is important about their studio and what they want to change in the future. Using art-based appreciative inquiry and online methods, the artists were prompted to talk and create artwork about ‘what is most important’ in the studio and ‘what we want for the future’. The artists reported that the most important aspects of the studio are the staff and their friends at the studio and the opportunity to make art that is motivated by their interests. The wishes expressed by the artists included increased opportunities to be social, to make more money, to have more community access and more choice and control in the studio.

This article shares the outcomes of a participatory art-based inquiry conducted during stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19 and the impact on the mental health and well-being of college-age students (age 18–21) in the United States. Participants engaged in artmaking sessions alongside researchers to respond to prompts geared to help them process their experiences. Findings that emerged from the project suggest that art-based practices in a community setting may support students in navigating times of great uncertainty by offering participants a chance to express themselves and process complicated feelings. Based on our findings, we offer art-based practices as a way to support young adults as they process the negative impact of the pandemic, transition back to campus, and navigate the college experience.

Pre-dating COVID-19 it was widely acknowledged that there was a loneliness epidemic and that prolonged loneliness and reduced human touch results in increased propensity to heart disease, stroke and clinical dementia. Given such statistics, and the use of isolation and shielding as a health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative that creative projects or research investigations embed strategies to address the potential fragmentation of community and increased difficulty of social connection. This discussion examines two Australian art-based projects – ‘A Place in Our Art’ and ‘Shorewell Presents … Dear Friend’ – to illustrate the use of arts and cultural activities to maintain and support social connection. The article draws on arts-health and performance theory to unpack project design and outcomes of using both physical and virtual creative art-based engagement strategies in a crisis to entice continued participation and support well-being.

This article will provide an example of how the ‘Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP): Online psychosocial support through the arts in Rwanda’ project used digital art-based workshops to facilitate social and community cohesion and mental health provision. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increased need for psychosocial support due to the economic and social pressures of lockdown and yet many individuals had less access to mental health provision. While many mental health services around the world went online, there was still a gap between the Global South and Global North in terms of digital literacy, access to smart phones and computers, and the variation between psychosocial support through individual vs. collective healing alongside Indigenous and traditional vs. western psychosocial approaches. Implications for the use of art-based digital methods as a tool for mental health provision during and after the wake of the pandemic are explored.

Many individuals experienced increased isolation and loneliness due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on social activities, yet the impacts of this isolation can be more pronounced for vulnerable populations such as LGBTQ+ youth. In order to offer a destigmatized space for LGBTQ+ youth to connect during the pandemic, facilitators at the University of Florida modified an LGBTQ+ youth theatre programme (Theatre Connect) to be delivered via an online platform. In the spring of 2021, facilitators developed an eight-week Commedia dell’Arte curriculum that was delivered over Zoom to nine youth. Although modified to fit the needs of the group, the programme provided the opportunity for urban and rural youth to connect with one another and develop theatre skills in a safe environment. These field notes describe curriculum development as well as challenges, successes and feedback. Due to the success of this programme, Theatre Connect will maintain online programming in future seasons.

The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst for the programme explored in this article. Developed to fill a gap in face-to-face support programmes for those with a life-limiting illness, the Live Well, Die Well programme offered participants the opportunity to experiment with various art-forms in online workshops. This article reveals the content and practice of three workshops facilitated by the author who uses this experience to begin an exploration of the connection between artmaking, illness, identity and agency. Critiquing the relevance of the art therapy literature to this programme, the author explores the key role online artmaking can play in ameliorating the ‘total pain’ often experienced at the end of life.

This article explores a practitioner’s response to the limits on face-to-face art therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the creation of pre-recorded art therapy videos for clients. This work took place at Challenge, a not-for-profit charity located in Melbourne, Australia, that supports children and teenagers living with cancer. A description of scripting, filming and editing processes is presented, including frameworks and methods that promoted sensory enrichment, curiosity and creative expression through the videos. The strengths and limitations of pre-recorded art therapy videos are discussed to encourage broader conversations on their use in the field.