As part of a national cohort, last month Americans for the Arts helped launch PHEAL—Planning for Health Equity, Advocacy, and Leadership Guiding Principles. Developed by individuals seeking to create a policy platform, the PHEAL Guiding Principles reaffirm the imperative need for public health and design professionals to work together toward empowering and elevating the voices of historically overburdened communities with health inequities in the time of COVID-19. Artists and arts & culture professionals deliberately were included in the development of the PHEAL Guiding Principles because of the inherent value and benefits that arts & culture bring to planning projects, such as highlighting the different communities involved in the project and providing additional opportunities for community members to express their ideas for a project.

Americans for the Arts is honored to have been part of the development of the PHEAL Guiding Principles in support of our ongoing civic design work emphasizing how arts and culture can help create vibrant, healthy, and equitable communities when incorporated into planning, transportation, and land use development projects.

To learn more about PHEAL, visit www.stateofplace.co/pheal-about.