On July 11, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA), in partnership with the International Teaching Artists Collective (ITAC), hosted the virtual event, “Art & Health Panel: Exploring the Power of the Arts in Health – A Global Perspective,” as a part of the Summer Forum from July 9-12, which was included in the 2025 Summer for the City Series.

Madeleine McGirk Rutherford, the current managing director of ITAC, moderated the panel. Hoku Pavao, Mariana Rosa, and Nisha Sajnani, Ph.D., RDT-BCT, were panelists in attendance.

Pavao co-founded Hidden Narratives at the Archive for Health Arts and Spirit (AHAS). Rosa is a teaching artist and actress in ITAC. Sajnani is the director of the graduate program in Drama Therapy at New York University (NYU) Steinhardt and the co-director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab.

Rutherford was born and grew up in the north east of Scotland, and is now based in Edinburgh, while Sajnani was born in Canada to parents of Indian heritage. She grew up in a multicultural, multi-lingual environment, which shaped her appreciation for diverse ways of knowing and being.

“I was surrounded by music, storytelling, and the performing arts — practices that were deeply rooted in community and used not just for celebration, but for healing and meaning-making. That foundation has had a lasting influence on how I see the relationship between culture and wellbeing,” Sajnani added.

Rutherford’s interest in pursuing a career in arts and health started when she trained as an actor and a filmmaker, and she had always been involved in drama groups her whole life. “It was like a window into an endless amount of new perspectives and intentions, and it built a much greater level of capability for empathy and insight into others, which I carry with me today,” she explained.

Her career started after she finished university, when she also worked as an actor. During that time, she began freelancing and teaching at local youth theatres. She was also hired to be the teaching artist for a national children’s charity that works in education, citizenship, and language learning.

“In that role, I ran a film making project for young people, many of whom had recently arrived in the country, some who had done so under really difficult or traumatic circumstances, and some who didn’t have any English yet at all. We worked together to create short films which told the stories of their perspective on citizenship, or life in general, and it was the most meaningful work I had ever experienced,” she added.

She joined ITAC in 2018 as the Founding Managing Director, so her job is to build the international network for teaching artists (TAs). Thus, she can support ITAC’s current members with tools, capacity building, and connections to one another.

Describing her work, Rutherford stated, “I try to make sure ITAC is a space where individual TAs can find each other, learn about how others are approaching Arts and Health (among other things), and have the space to expand their practice. We partner with big institutions to try to advance the agenda overall at national and international levels.”

Sajnani co-directs the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, a global collaboration with the World Health Organization, NYU Steinhardt, Culturunners, and Community Jameel, in which the mission is to improve lives through the arts measurably. We do this by advancing research, policy, and public awareness about how the arts contribute to health and wellbeing.

“We work with ministries of health and culture, UN agencies, artists, creative arts therapists, and researchers to build the evidence base for arts-based interventions and to promote their integration into health systems around the world,” Sajnani said when discussing her work.

In addition, Rutherford and Sajnani shared some of the initiatives they’ve each seen implemented that have benefited the people suffering from physical and mental health issues where they live.

Rutherford mentioned a few examples in Scotland, such as the “Scottish Ballet runs some amazing Dance for Parkinson’s workshops, and Bazooka Arts in Glasgow provides therapeutic arts projects for children and adults to improve health and wellbeing.”

Sajnani mentioned that here in New York, NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest public hospital system in the US, has led the way by embedding artists in residence to bring beauty into clinical spaces. They also engage a robust team of creative arts therapists who provide clinical services across the hospital.

She added, “Our lab is currently leading a Lancet global series on the health benefits of the arts to provide a summary of current evidence and a roadmap to advancing practice, research, and policy.”

Rutherford believes that other things that can help those with physical and mental health issues in Scotland include funding the prescribed arts activities as health programs and connecting approaches between the health and arts sectors and their budgets.

Sajnani expressed a similar sentiment: “We need sustained investment in community-based arts programs that are accessible and culturally relevant. This includes funding artists as public health workers, training health professionals in arts-based approaches, and creating policies that recognize the arts as a determinant of health. We also need to prioritize quantitative and qualitative evaluation to make visible the value of these interventions and support their integration into mainstream care. Finally, we need avenues to exchange good practice across borders.”

Rutherford would “urge countries curious about innovative approaches to this to look at the work of Public Health Scotland, and Healing Arts Scotland.” Sajnani advises countries interested in getting involved in this work: “Start by building partnerships with local artists and cultural organizations.”

Suppose it is too soon to begin something at a regional/national level, and individuals are looking to start, in that case, this is her advice: “I’d urge doctors and those in health to approach local artists they may know who are working in communities, invite them in to work with patients, and watch the magic happen for themselves.”

Sajnani advises doctors and other health care professionals: “Listen to your patients — many already turn to the arts for support. Refer to the growing evidence base, including WHO reports and peer-reviewed studies, to advocate within your institutions. You don’t have to be an artist to prescribe arts activities, but you can help create the conditions for social prescribing to thrive.”