The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is bringing more ways to improve your health in Central Florida.
According to the World Health Organization, arts in health care delivery has been shown to support positive clinical outcomes for patients.
The Orlando performing arts center hired its first Arts and Wellness Director, Alana Jackson.
New position, same mission
Alana Jackson has been working in the field of integrating arts and wellness for more than a decade.
Before joining the Dr. Phillips Center, Jackson was a faculty member at the University of Florida teaching a curriculum focused on service learning through arts and global health integration, compassion in the arts and clinical research.
She sees her role as the first Arts and Wellness Director as, “an opportunity to continue to further the direction that the Center has been going in, looking at the ways that arts and culture can help to promote healthier, more thriving communities.”
According to the Dr. Phillips Center, the arts center is one of only two in the country to invest in an Arts and Wellness Director.
“I feel really inspired. This is a part of the work that I am meant to do, and I'm excited to continue doing it here in Orlando,” said Jackson.
Jackson hopes to implement art programs that are meaningful, measurable, and sustainable at the Center that benefits the variety of people living in Central Florida.
“How do we create space for there to be something for everyone, in many capacities, but then also wanting to respond and make sure the program is responsive to what's needed here,” she said.
Jackson’s hopes to be a connector and catalyst for the health benefits of the arts and for artists.
“I’ve started these conversations with different artists about what arts and wellness is,” she said. “And have found that there's opportunity there as well to just keep telling that story so that artists understand the value of what they're bringing to the table.”
Jackson has her own personal connection to art as it has helped her cope with grief and connecting with other people.
“It builds confidence, it builds trust in yourself. And for me as an artist, it also helps so much in terms of this position, because I know the power of it personally,” she said. “I'm excited to share what I know to be true with others and hope that others will be able to tap into that for themselves.”
Intersection of Arts and Health
Concerns about mental health remained elevated three years after the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 30% of Americans reporting symptoms of Anxiety and/or depression, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Alana Jackson said art can be used as a tool to combat those health issues and bring communities like Central Florida closer together.
“With Central Florida being both a space that people look at, from a visibility perspective, and a place where a lot of different kinds of people coexist here, I think there's this opportunity for the arts to promote empathy with one another,” she said.
But Jackson said the arts don’t only help with your mental health, like for example, the Dance for Parkinson’s program she founded at Duke University as an undergraduate.
“In those spaces, the arts become a tool and a mechanism for cognitive function in terms of supporting that, in terms of helping with mobility, in terms of social connections, and bringing people together and forming new community, providing a sense of normalcy,” she said. “And really helping us to focus on the person and not the predicament that they're going through.”
Community Conversations
Although Jackson is new to Orlando, she said she has hit the ground running with a listening tour to get a better understanding of the needs of the community.
Through her conversations, she says two words keep coming up -- community and value.
Jackson said many are looking to bring Central Florida’s melting pot of cultures and communities closer together through the arts.
“Whether that is in a neighborhood based space, or bringing people together around a common theme or idea. For example, food insecurity and homelessness, which has been lifted in several conversations,” she said. “How do we create a concerted effort with folks to make sure we're moving the needle on this in a way that's going to benefit and impact the most people.”
She is also hearing about the value and importance of her role at the intersection of art and wellness.
“A space of being able to value the arts, and to understand what the benefits really are. to not underestimate the power of joy, to not underestimate the power of the arts, providing a space where people can thrive and feel like they're also flourishing,” she said. “That goes beyond the concept that we sometimes limit what health means to us.”
