Artists transform middle school into health policy innovation hub
Project HEAL Health Impact Assessment Part II: Hero+Shero Journeys
“Is that Lady Gaga?” asked a student at Meyzeek Middle School, as excited shouts, gasps and questions flew through the air as Canadian artist Dominique Paul walked into the classroom in April 2017.
Paul, whose work visualizes data, was clad head-to-toe in silver as a bodice of light changed colors in response to the air quality measured through an AirBeam housed in her purse.
In her residency with IDEAS xLab as part of Project HEAL, Paul worked alongside artist and Meyzeek Middle School teacher Chris Rasheed to create an arts-based approach to experiential learning on the correlation between air quality and asthma. In 2017, according to the American Lung Association, Louisville rank as the thirteenth-most polluted city in the nation for worst long-term particle pollution. Louisville residents are also at risk of unhealthful levels of ozone, putting them at risk for premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, worsened COPD symptoms and cardiovascular harm.
This initial artist engagement, made possible by IDEAS xLab, the Canada Council for the Arts Council and the Educational Foundation of America, birthed Hero+Shero Journeys — an ongoing artist residency program at Meyzeek Middle School in Louisville’s Smoketown neighborhood — that combines art, creative writing, and data science with environmental justice to allow students to explore how they might turn their school into an environmental health policy innovation hub.
“It was amazing to see how my students responded to Paul’s wearable art,” said Christopher Rasheed, sixth grade Language Arts teacher at Meyzeek Middle School. “Her presence immediately engaged the students in dialogue about the correlation between air quality and asthma related issues. They were able to visualize the data prior to conducting the analysis. This past school year, I have had several guest speakers, presenters and musicians collaborate with me to enhance the pedagogy. What made Paul’s presentation unique was her talent for blending art with science. A lot of work went into conducting the research, analyzing and juxtaposing data, identifying commonalities, sharing stories, writing papers, brainstorming and creating art pieces to reflect the learning outcomes.”
As outlined in the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) on Project HEAL and supported through seed funding from the Educational Foundation of America and the Humana Foundation, Hero+Shero Journeys is now in the planning process to move into an expanded pilot. Other artists are now being engaged to develop plans for working with Meyzeek students to co-create projects with neighborhood leaders and stakeholders that can impact environmental factors and social determinants of health.
The annual project will consist of multiple artist residencies, culminating in the creation of a Smoketown Hero+Shero Journeys comic book that the students will create with local comic / graffiti book artists and poets. The comic book will visualize the student’s proposed policy change initiative(s) for increasing environmental health justice in Smoketown. Students will then present the comic and suggested policy changes to policymakers. This could be the Principal and School Board, or the Louisville Mayor and Louisville Metro Council depending on the policy developed.
An Evidence-Informed Approach to Arts-based Social Impact
A convergence of culture, community and science, the Project HEAL Health Impact Assessment explored the linkage between social cohesion and educational achievement, and how Hero+Shero Journeys may accelerate youth/civic engagement, among other possible outcomes.
“In addition to the potential positive impacts on environmental health through more equitable community development policy,” said IDEAS xLab co-founder Theo Edmonds who was one of the primary authors of the Health Impact Assessment, “One longitudinal study conducted by the Institute of Medicine of 25,000 secondary school students showed that when compared to their peers, low-income students engaged in the arts were more likely to attend and succeed in college, to obtain jobs, to be community volunteers and to participate in the voting process. Hero+Shero Journeys potentially will create this same type of multi-dimensional impact.”
The Institute of Medicine also completed a study that showed that the arts play an important role in competency development among students who otherwise feel excluded or isolated… and demonstrated a continued strong connection between arts learning during childhood years and academic success and other prosocial outcomes in later life.
To learn more about Paul’s residency and the corresponding AirWalk co-hosted with the Institute for Healthy Air Water & Soil in Summer 2017 click here.
To learn more about the potential impacts of Hero+Shero Journeys and to read the full Project HEAL Health Impact Assessment click here.
The Health Impact Assessment was authored by the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, IDEAS xLab, and the Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky, with additional support from the Health Impact Project — a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, with funding from the Kresge Foundation.
