How can we build healthier communities, as people, as artists, as friends, as a country?

On July 27, 2024, hundreds of artists in 18 cities across America worked together to find out.

  • At a moment when Americans faced acute challenges to their individual and collective wellbeing, the audacious campaign from One Nation/One Project titled Arts For EveryBody sought to prove how the arts can lead to healthier people and healthier communities. Inspired by the 1936 Federal Theatre Project, where 18 cities and towns presented their own interpretations of the anti-fascist play “It Can't Happen Here,” Arts For EveryBody brought together people and communities across the country to share art reflective of their own communities on the same day.

    On July 27, 2024, artists, civic leaders, and community health providers in 18 cities and towns across America simultaneously premiered an array of large-scale participatory art projects which drew on the sounds, styles, and stories of their communities to answer the prompt “No place like home.”

    In big cities and rural counties, hundreds of actors, muralists, poets, folk dancers, circus clowns, farmers, flower artists, skaters, cooks, architects, DJs, puppeteers, nurses, mariachi players, bamboo weavers and more created new works that showed the world where they come from. The result was a celebration of American pluralism–of unity through diversity. From Seattle to Gainesville, from Providence to Honolulu, it was an outpouring of local joy.

    Read the full press release here.

  • Arts For EveryBody aimed to do more than entertain, inspire, and galvanize: it marked a breakthrough moment in the relationship between the arts and health in America.

    Arts for EveryBody commissioned a series of research studies led by Dr. Jill Sonke, Ph.D., at the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine to examine the connection between arts participation and the health of a community. The first of four studies in the series examined and defined “arts participation,” which was recently published in Health Promotion Practice Journal.

    View Article

  • Older adults who participate in the arts report a 48% lower risk of depression and a 44% reduction in dementia; the health benefits of arts participation are equivalent to the benefits of weekly exercise.

    Participating in the arts reduces stress and loneliness, which are risk factors for a wide range of ailments, including hypertension and heart disease. There are also social benefits - young adults are more likely to stay in school and 4 out of 5 young adults who had arts-rich experiences are more likely to vote.

    Learn more about the mental and physical benefits of arts participation here.

Watch the Trailer for July 27th

Listen to Our Song Anthem

Watch a Recap of the Event

  • About "You Are Home / You Are Loved"

    John Forté was commissioned to lead the development of a song in support of the Arts for Everybody national arts and health campaign. The song was designed to incorporate several artist participants from across various sites and includes contributions from Edinburg (TX), Kansas City (MO), Chicago (IL), and Phillips County (AR). The song title "You Are Home / You Are Loved" references the theme driving many of the site's artistic projects premiering on July 27, 2024 – "No Place Like Home." Its featured artists include John Forté, Binta, Making Movies, Olivia Mills, and the Living Waters Gospel Choir. You are invited to clap your hands and sing along!

    "You Are Home / You Are Loved"
    John Forté (feat. Binta, Making Movies, Living Waters Gospel Choir, Olivia Mills)

    Composed By:
    John Forté
    Binta Diallo
    Daniel Kulasik
    Enrique Chi

    Written By:
    John Forté

    Produced By:
    John Forté

    Co-Produced By:
    Clyde Valentin
    Brian Satz

    Performers:
    John Forté - Vocals, Guitar
    Binta Diallo - Vocals
    Olivia Mills - Vocals
    Duncan Burnett - Percussion
    Enrique Chi - Vocals, Guitar (ENRIQUE CHI ASCAP - #549986380)
    Jesus Villegas - Trumpet
    Brenda Hughes - Vocals
    MaryAnn Hughes Goldsberry - Vocals
    Lita Moore-Johnson - Vocals
    Maple Edwards - Vocals
    JT White - Vocals

    Available on all the major platforms and available for download

Watch Our Celebrity PSA

Debbie Allen

Jerry Trainor

Leo González

Jay Ellis

Sarah Gilman

Ayesha Perry-Iqbal

Yaya daCosta

Jillian Mercado

Emily Tosta

Craig Robinson

Quinn XCII

Guillermo Diaz

Nikkolas Smith

Jon Huertas

Aloe Blacc

Julissa Calderon

Maiara Walsh

Angell Conwell

Akilah Hughes

Sara Seyed

Andre Royo

Eddie James Olmos

Lauren Siyowin

Samuel L. Jackson

Debbie Allen Jerry Trainor Leo González Jay Ellis Sarah Gilman Ayesha Perry-Iqbal Yaya daCosta Jillian Mercado Emily Tosta Craig Robinson Quinn XCII Guillermo Diaz Nikkolas Smith Jon Huertas Aloe Blacc Julissa Calderon Maiara Walsh Angell Conwell Akilah Hughes Sara Seyed Andre Royo Eddie James Olmos Lauren Siyowin Samuel L. Jackson

   
MEET THE
18 SITES

Sites were led by local artists, municipal officials and community health leaders, who worked together to create large-scale participatory arts projects that advanced health, equity, and community connection.

Download a PDF of all 18 site descriptions here.

Learn about additional #ArtsForEveryBody events that took place on July 27th.

Our Leadership

Arts for EveryBody was led by some of our country’s most creative thinkers. Together, they worked to coordinate a movement guided by healing, equity and community. 

Our National Team

Resources

News & Related Press