Wexner Center for the Arts

The Wexner Center for the Arts at the Ohio State University in Columbus will expand its free arts resilience programs to help individuals, families, and neighborhoods emerge from the pandemic with a sense of wellbeing and human connection. The arts resilience programs reduce social isolation, improve cognition, and offer techniques for coping. Developed in partnership with artists, social workers, medical professionals, meditation practitioners, and other advisors, the resilience programs offer art as the subject matter for group discussion and self-reflection and, in turn, serve as a catalyst for wellness. A full-time director of art and resilience will ramp up and re-energize this suite of programs in response to stressors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest caused by racism. Programs will serve the general public and specific groups, such as military veterans and community members experiencing anxiety.