RESEARCH & IMPACT
Led by Dr. Jill Sonke of the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine, our research team is working in partnership with each municipal team and local community to design a national mixed methods research protocol to measure outcomes and impacts across project sites. All of our research activities are designed to advance equity, multi-cultural validity, participant ownership, and local research capacity, while focusing on priority post-COVID health improvements.
The burning questions at the heart of ONOP all circle around understanding the ecology of change that can be created when cities, arts, and health collide: Will participating in ONOP activities help individual participants value and invest in their health? Will participants report a greater sense of wellbeing, better mental health, and more positive outlooks on their futures? Can regular art practice enhance social cohesion as we emerge from the pandemic?
And what happens when positive health outcomes are achieved at scale? How will residents’ relationships to their communities be transformed? How can the arts drive greater civic participation and engagement in public life?
Grounded in its value of social relationships, community practices, lived experiences and perspectives, narratives and stories, artworks, and creative and cultural expression, our research will utilize arts-based methods for data collection, analysis, and translation. The team will engage partnership and collaboration with the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy at George Washington University, the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine, the World Health Organization, and a national team of advisors to guide its research.