UC Merced Chancellor’s Task Force on Community Engaged Scholarship
Amy KitchenerExecutive Director, ACTA
Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, MD, PhDProfessor of Clinical Internal Medicine
Director, Center for Reducing Health DisparitiesUC Davis School of Medicine
Merced, CADecember 2, 2011
Weaving Traditional Arts Into the Fabric of Community Health
Alliance for California Traditional Arts
“to ensure California’s future holds California’s past”
ACTA promotes and supports ways for cultural traditions to thrive now and
into the future by providing advocacy, resources, and connections for folk and
traditional artists and their communities.
What are folk & traditional arts?African American quilt making Japanese bonsai Western saddle making Karuk dip net fishing Chinese qin music Kumeyaay sacred songs Cowboy poetry Laotian dance Hmong wedding and funeral ritual singing Indian carnatic music Hungarian six-hole fipple flute Mexican mariachi music Mechoopda Maidu dance regalia Hawaiian kahiko hula chant and dance Mono basketry Pilipino rondalla ensembles Portuguese fado singing South Indian bharata natyam dance Mexican-American corridos Vietnamese cai luong opera Chinese qin music Persian tar music Cuban Orisha-Lucumi music North Indian kathak dance Maguindanao kulintang music Ohlone basketry Mexican cartonería Korean seal carving Western boot making Hmong qeej music Okinawan dance Cambodian pin peat music Armenian marash embroidery Mexican son huasteco music Cahuilla bird singing Persian santour music Tibetan folk dance Afro-Cuban bata drumming Hmong reverse appliqué embroidery Lao weaving Mexican son jarocho music Scottish Highland bagpipe music Chinese dizi music Filipino eskrima Puerto Rican bomba music and dance Judeo-Arabic music Chinese Kunqu opera Armenian oud music Karuk basketry Yurok hand-carved dugout redwood canoes Brazilian capoeira Pomo baby cradle making Arab derbakeh music Mexican Día de los Muertos altars Hungarian folk dance Senegalese music and dance Japanese shamisen music Danza Azteca regalia Romani music and dance Ghanaian drumming Mexican ballet folklorico African American gospel choirs Trinidadian Carnival costumes, music and dance Somali women’s oral poetry
ACTA-UC Davis Health Systems Collaboration Why would an arts organization want to
commission health research?
UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities and Dr. Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola
1998 Archives of General Psychiatry
William Vega, et al -- Ethel Alderette, Ralph Catalano, Bohdan Kolody, Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, Jorge Caraveo-Anduaga
Assimilation causes the rate of mental illness to double among the children of Mexican Immigrants
Living Cultures Grants Program
Living Cultures Grants Program Grants up to $7,500 to support exemplary
projects in the folk and traditional arts
Annual cycle makes 45-60 grants statewide (2011 pool of $400,000)
Large portion of grants are made to support arts learning of traditional arts (intergenerational)
Sub-cohort of teen-focused artistic advancement
Apprenticeship Program
Apprenticeship Program
$3,000 contracts to Master traditional artists to support intensive one-on-one learning to qualified apprentices
17-24 contracts annually statewide
Intergenerational relationships between masters and apprentices
Public sharing component of each apprenticeship
La Cultura CuraMAPSSMAPSS
MAPSS
Vega, Kolody, Aguilar-Gaxiola et al., Archives of General Psychiatry, 1998
5.9
10.8
18.5
9.0
20.4
19.5
7.6
17.1
8.3
24.1
28.0
25.0
9.7
14.3
29.3
11.8
24.7
28.2
MAPSSMAPSS
18.4
32.3
48.7
23.4
51.448.6
MAPSSMAPSS
Vega, Kolody, Aguilar-Gaxiola et al., Archives of General Psychiatry, 1998
MAPSSMAPSS
MAPSS
MAPSSMAPSS
Vega, Kolody, Aguilar-Gaxiola et al., Archives of General Psychiatry, 1998
5.9
10.8
18.5
9.0
20.419.5
7.6
17.1
8.3
24.1
28.0
25.0
9.7
14.3
29.3
11.8
24.7
28.2
MAPSSMAPSS
“We have known for a long time that community engagement in traditional arts has many types of
positive effects that relate to individual and community health…we wanted to find a way to move beyond a series of individual anecdotes shared with the ACTA staff to a more formal evaluation process that could
begin to quantify some of the important effects, particularly the connection between community-based
traditional arts and health.”
Amy Kitchener, 2011
A Bold Premise
ACTA, by engaging people in the traditional art forms of their cultures, fosters in them a sense of community, cultural pride, and personal achievement that improves their sense of well-being and may ultimately benefit their health, as individuals and as members of a community.
Arts-to-Health: La Cultura Cura“The very practice of an art form, with its focus on concentration and self-improvement, may provide a welcome distraction from illness and a satisfying sense of accomplishment.”
DOMAINS OF HEALTH EFFECTS:
Self-actualization, health literacy, and communication
Community engagement outside of traditional health care settings
Intergenerational learning promoting health and wellness; engaging elders
Resilience, self-efficacy and empowerment of the younger generation
The Research Challenge
Evaluation of arts-for-health interventions is a source of controversy.
There is conflict between two perspectives:
A health care perspective that demands rigorous evidence to prove art’s link with health
An art perspective that emphasizes intrinsic benefits of art and resists art’s subjugation to narrowly defined health goals
Qualitative Evaluations of Two ACTA Programs
The Living Cultures Grants Program and the Apprenticeship Program were conducted in two phases: Initial and Culminating.
Main methodology: Narrative interviews and focus groups.
Main goal: to identify key positive health-related outcomes.
Identify common themes.
The Living Cultures Program
UC Davis researchers conducted interviews of 23 participants from 6 Living Cultures Programs:
Included semi-structured individual interviews with the purpose of documenting participants’ perceptions of how ACTA programs had been implemented and its outcomes.
The questions concerned the effects of the traditional arts program on the individual participant and how the program affected participants’ relationship with their communities.
Living Cultures Grants Program
Au Co Vietnamese Cultural Center
Coyote’s Paw
Filipino American Development Foundation
Haitian Dance Drum Retreat
Garifuna American Heritage Foundation United
Mariachi Master-Apprentice Program of the City of San Fernando
Recurring Themes (LCP)
Knowledge and preservation of culture and history
Cultural pride
Artistic development
Impact on personal well-being
Community involvement
Teamwork/Collaboration (collective energy)
Health and Well-Being (LCP)
Clarification of future goals
Enhancement of physical and/or mental health
Perception of positive social characteristics/self-esteem
Desire to grow and continue learning
Spiritual and emotional connection to art and culture
Self-actualization
Enhanced identity
Community involvement
“Afro-Haitian dance feeds my spirit and continues to make my warrior spirit shine and whatever I can do to
prolong that, which is studying directly with Haitian masters, I’m there and I am so grateful for this dance
form…I can’t explain like how blessed I feel…”
--Haitian Dance and Drum Retreat Participant
The Apprenticeship Program
The UC Davis researchers’ interviews consisted of:
10 Masters (45.5%)
12 Apprentices (54.5%)
Semi-Structured interviews were completed for each master and apprentice
The purpose was to document participants’ perceptions and look at:
Skill development
Critical life experiences
Enhancement of community relations
Increase community belonging
Cultural pride
Apprenticeship Program Participants
Master D: A 59-year-old Laotian master weaver
Apprentice D: A 29-year-old Laotian
Master F: A 69-year-old Armenian musician
Apprentice F: A 10-year-old Armenian
Master H: A 63-year-old Pomo Native basket weaver
Apprentice H: A 35-year-old Pomo Native
Master J: A 68-year old Chinese Kunqu dancer
Apprentice J: A 19-year-old Chinese
Master K: A 74-year-old Mexican traditional dancer
Apprentice K: A 26 year old Mexican
Recurring Themes (AP)
Enhancement of community resources
Increasing community awareness
Strengthening community relations
Increasing community belonging
Cultural pride
Personal health and well-being
Effects on Well-Being (AP)
Self-improvement
Spiritual and moral growth
Skill-Learning
Feeling “whole”
Physical health Growing physically stronger
Healing effect
Cleansing effect
Health and Well-Being (AP)
Physical Health Healing effect
“I will be teaching 15 Native Americans [basket making] … and it is paid through the Indian health clinics. They see
art as healing. This last class I just did…was specifically geared for diabetics, for people who were
bad diabetics.”
--Master H Pomo Native American Basket Maker
Conclusions Embracing the Traditional Arts to promote well-
being and health:
− Traditional arts prize and capitalize on intergenerational learning and connection.
− Each generation adds to a tradition.
− The community’s shared sense of beauty and craftsmanship become a source of identity and pride.
− All of these are the very building blocks of well-being.
“…For the health of the children, good health, mental, physical, , health of the children. To bring
spirituality, to bring structure, to bring discipline…to feel good about the ethnicity…to be proud of who they are. To have a cultural identity, to feel this is
me. I am happy to be who I am”
--Female Indian Bharata Natyam Dancer
Mainstreaming Arts-to-HealthMainstreaming Arts-to-Health
Acknowledgements
Hugo Morales, JD
Nolan Zane, PhD.
Linda Zieganh, PhD
Marbella Sala
Leticia Carrillo, PhD
Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD
Sherwood Chen
A special thanks to The California Endowment for their generous support of this study.
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