About Us
Founded in 2006, the Art | Global Health Center at UCLA seeks to nurture a global network of artists and advocates working in the realm of public health. Harnessing the communicative power of the arts, the Center creates public health interventions that celebrate life, buttressed by principles of human rights and social justice. Center programs challenge communities and individuals to reconsider preconceived notions of intimacy in an age of disease, and of tolerance in an age of distrust.
Our endeavors are shepherded by the following guiding principles:
1: The Power of a Global Network of Artists
We aim to facilitate collaboration between artists and advocates working for the advancement of global health, strengthening public health interventions through improved communication via the international artists’ network and database.
2: The Creative Process as a Catalyst for Change
Our programs seek to create points of personal identification through art as a means to elicit empathy, understanding, and emotional growth through recognition of a shared humanity.
3: De-Centered Sites of Artistic Encounter
We aim to expand our audience into sites of encounter beyond elite spaces. These sites are portable, village level, street level; they reach all populations.
4: Education as Action
We seek to develop, implement and evaluate arts-based educational programs, taking advantage of the laboratory provided by UCLA to ascertain the most effective means to educate and empower youth in the battle against HIV/AIDS.
History
The Art | Global Health Center at UCLA's objectives are currently pursued in large part through the MAKE ART/STOP AIDS global initiative, an international network of scholars, artists, and activists committed to ending the global AIDS epidemic. UCLA Professor David Gere, Director of the Center, established the MAKE ART/STOP AIDS network while on a Fulbright research grant in India in 2004. This network formed the basis for what would later become the Art | Global Health Center.
In July 2004, Gere led a four-day workshop in Kolkata with 60 Indian and 15 international artists and activists under the MAKE ART/STOP AIDS banner. A subsequent daylong event in New Delhi brought the concepts developed in the workshop to the attention of leaders from the Indian government, media, and non-governmental organizations. Since then, MAKE ART/STOP AIDS has expanded from Kolkata to Los Angeles, from Mexico City to Rio de Janeiro, and from Johannesburg back to Chennai, to create a truly international network.
Funders have included UNAIDS, UNESCO, the Andy Warhol Foundation, UC MEXUS, the World Bank, and the Ford Foundation, among others.
