Curating Urban Health: Art, Policy, and Intervention
Wednesday 9 December 2026 | 9:30 AM MoMA, Bartos Theater, 4 W 54th St, NY 10019
What would it mean to recognize this public art infrastructure as a public health mandate? This symposium sets out to explore that question, bringing together public art practitioners, artists, researchers, policymakers, and cultural leaders to begin thinking about public art as essential to the health of the city.
About the Event
Over the past decade, the field of arts and health has grown substantially, with expanding research documenting how creative practice drives clinical and community outcomes. At its core, this work affirms that aesthetic experience is not a luxury but fundamental to human flourishing.
Nowhere is this more visible than in New York City, home to one of the most extensive public art collections in the world: artworks line subway stations, fill school hallways, anchor civic spaces, and hang in hospital corridors, reaching millions of New Yorkers and visitors every day. When a rider pauses before an artwork on a train platform, when a child grows up alongside a commissioned work in their school, or when a patient encounters a carefully placed painting in a clinical space, the encounter with art offers a form of care.
What would it mean to recognize this public art infrastructure as a public health mandate? This symposium sets out to explore that question, bringing together public art practitioners, artists, researchers, policymakers, and cultural leaders to begin thinking about public art as essential to the health of the city.
This symposium is organized by NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine.
Event Flow
- 9:30 AM: Doors Open; coffee and mingling
- 10 AM: Opening Remarks, Leonardo Bravo, Director of Learning and Public Engagement, MoMA and Larissa W. Trinder, Executive Director, NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine
- 10:15 AM: Artist Spotlight: Jamel Robinson
- 10:30 AM: Panel 1: Visual Art as Therapeutic Intervention: Moderated by Monica Mariño, Director of Programming, NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine, feat. Kendal Henry, Assistant Commissioner of Public Art, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Tina Vaz, Director, MTA Arts and Design, Tania Duvergne, Director, Public Art for Public Schools at NYC School Construction Authority, Ryan Patrick, Curator, NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine
- 11:30 AM: MoMA Showcase I
- 12:00 PM: Lunch provided (included in registration)
- 1:00 PM: Remarks from Rick Luftglass, Executive Director of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
- 1:10 PM: Panel 2: Policy and Research, Moderated by Larissa W. Trinder, Executive Director, NYC Health + Hospitals/Arts in Medicine; Adjunct Faculty, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, feat. Sarah Calderón, Senior Advisor for Cultural Life, City of New York, Yazmany Arboleda, Inaugural People’s Artist, NYC Civic Engagement Commission, Jill Sonke, Stanford and Federal Reserve Bank of New York Cultural Policy Fellow, Tooshar Swain, Senior Director, Public Policy Americans for the Arts
- 2:15 PM: MoMA Showcase II
- 2:30 PM: Closing Remarks
Guests are welcome to explore the galleries