Center for Arts in Health

Our Mission: To embed visual, performing and therapeutic arts throughout The MetroHealth System to promote healing, wellness, and increased engagement among patients, families, caregivers, and the greater community.

Our Vision: We will be arts in health leaders transforming our environment and experience through community arts programs and artists-in-residence for the benefit of patients, families, caregivers and overall public health.

Contact Us
Linda Jackson
Director, Center for Arts in Health
216-778-7685
[email protected]

The performing and visual arts have a positive, transformative impact on health and quality of life in and outside of MetroHealth’s walls. Patients, caregivers, and the broader community benefit from an integrated approach to the arts and health through dedicated physical space and programs.

Our Center for Arts in Health at MetroHealth is dedicated to transforming health and healing through the arts. We integrate the arts in a variety of settings: in our hospital, our clinics, our health centers, and our neighborhoods. Through music, dance, theater, visual arts, and community arts programs, artists create a truly extraordinary MetroHealth experience.

Patient Care
For inpatients and outpatients, our goal is to provide up to 40 hours of the arts and arts therapies, including live performances and interactive activities. Programming ranges from music performances to soothe burn patients to helping patients express their experiences through visual arts, theater and poetry. Our Metro Music Mondays feature live music performances for the enrichment of patients throughout the MetroHealth System.

Health Care Environment
The Center for Arts in Health is actively engaged in the architectural design of the new MetroHealth campus to ensure the new environment is a healing one. Visual art and site-specific creative arts programming support and enhance this effort.

Employee Engagement
All of our employees have access to the Center for Arts in Health programming. Some of our employees are artists themselves: we provide opportunities for them to share their work with others through visual arts exhibitions and performance.

Community Well-Being and Engagement
At MetroHealth, we are leading the way to healthier community. The arts play a valuable role: Through the arts we connect, educate and engage our community. Arts programming is designed for our volunteers and our burn and trauma survivors. We collaborate with the MetroHealth School Health Program, Community Health Advocates and community development corporations. School children attend performances at our main campus. And we are committed to providing affordable health care to artists.

Our Partnerships
We’re working with arts organizations throughout the Cleveland area, including The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Public Theatre and Inlet Dance Theatre, to bring arts programming to our patients, caregivers, and community. Cleveland’s Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) has conducted research into the many benefits of incorporating the arts into healthcare environments. Read the research.

Arts in Health Advisory Committee
Our Center for Arts in Health advisory committee provides direction, objective advice, and critical feedback on issues related to arts and health care. They help advance the mission of our department, build awareness of our programs, and help assess our department’s accomplishments.

Center for Arts in Health activities scheduled at MetroHealth