College of Fine Arts to host annual International Symposium on Arts and Wellness during the Global Arts Festival

The College of Fine Arts’ Global Arts Festival will host an International Symposium March 22-23 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Baker Theater on the second floor of the Baker University Center on Ohio University’s Athens Campus.

The symposium, titled “Arts, Health, Wellness and Sustainable Development,” will feature more than 30 faculty members, students, and guest scholars presenting their work on a broad spectrum of interrelated topics. The full roster of scholars and panels can be accessed online here. The event is free and open to the public.

OHIO Professor of Music at OHIO and Global Arts Festival co-director Paschal Yao Younge said scholars will present work centered on the intersection of the arts and many of humanity’s lived experiences

"Presenters, coming from various parts of the United States and across the globe, will offer an intellectual exchange of ideas, concepts, and recommendations to aid artists, educators, health care professionals, policymakers, and others, focusing on the intersections of art, public health, community, and sustainable development," Younge said.

Two keynote presentations are planned by Jeffrey A. Russell, Ph.D., associate professor of athletic training and researcher within the Laboratory for Science and Health in Artistic Performance (SHAPe Lab), including one titled “Well Artists Produce Art Well: An Opportunity for Art to Impact Society.”

Russell links his presentation to the four thematic elements of the symposium by considering how “the arts positively impact health, how the sciences create an environment for the performance of art, how the health sciences can be applied to restore artists from injuries and how whole-person wellness contributes to the robustness needed for socioeconomic sustainability.”

The International Symposium is part of the Global Arts Festival, which takes place March 21-26 in Athens and features performances, keynote speakers and for its finale, the 10^th World Music and Dance Concert on March 26 at 7:30 p.m. in Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Tickets to the concert are available online here.