Theo Edmonds, JD,MHA,MFA

nat rosasco • Apr 07, 2020
Artist & Health Innovator:
University of Louisville Center for Creative Placehealing


Bio:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified the systematic neglect of culture as the single, greatest barrier to the advancement of the highest standard of health worldwide. Health is more than the absence of disease. It is a state of wellbeing that allows diverse groups of people to contribute their full, creative potential to the communities they love. This interaction helps us derive a personal sense of hope, trust, and belonging. These are cultural metrics, transferable to a wide range of diverse communities, which, according to research, can predict wellbeing. 

Even as inequity rises, America is experiencing a decades-long decline in social services funding. Likewise, we are at the beginning of a privatization movement directed at our nation’s public health system. How all of this plays out over the long term is yet to be seen. However, one thing is sure. The private, public and nonprofit sectors must become better aligned. UofL’s Center for Creative Placehealing was created to help find the way forward. A way that creates value for both business owners and society.  

Whereas many of today’s business innovation models focus on creating “disruption”, the Center for Creative Placehealing is focused on something far more powerful. We seek to create “meaning”. Culture is the result of how diverse communities make and share meaning. It is the “why” of both people and businesses. The future of business is tied to creating value: both in the market AND in society. In other words - doing well, while doing good. This is fundamentally a CULTURAL challenge. 
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30 May, 2023
Art Against Racism is a virtual arts exhibition which aims to lift up the tremendous array of creative works made in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In doing so, project organizers hope that the exhibition will serve as an archive of the national artistic response to this historic moment.
30 May, 2023
La Raza Youth Leadership Institute hosted an art contest for youth ages 12-19 with the goal of motivating Latinx youth to get vaccinated. Three winners were chosen, and the first place winner's artwork was displayed on buses and in bus stop shelters near a number of schools. A phone number is included with the artwork for youth to call to receive more information about vaccines.
22 Jul, 2022
Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective's Perception Isn't Always Reality engages BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) teen and young adult artists to reevaluate messages they may have received about Covid-19 and vaccinations and to reevaluate the sources of the information. Through their own brand of urban storytelling that involves collaborative work in hip hop music and krump dance, spoken word, videography, photography, and podcasting, the artists will produce a challenging body of work for the public to experience on urban canvases such as the sides of city buses and on air waves.
22 Jul, 2022
Based in St. Louis, Missouri and incorporated in 2014, the Story Stitchers Artists Collective uses a collaborative model to create social justice art. The mission of Story Stitchers is to document St. Louis through art and word and to promote understanding, civic pride, intergenerational relationships, and literacy. Story Stitchers works to promote a better educated, more peaceful, and caring region through the creation and dissemination of original art.
21 Jul, 2022
The product of a collaboration the Potters' Guild of Las Cruces and Mesilla artist Josh Switzer, The Healing Wings project was developed to gave people in Las Cruces who were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic a chance to honor those lost during to COVID-19. Las Cruces community members were invited to paint clay-sculpted wings to hang on a metal tree. The wings gave the community members an artistic outlet to share their griefs or honor loved ones. The project also included a sculpture comprised of metal boxes, where people could write their experiences of grief on a paper and then put it in the box. Once the boxes are full, organizers plan to burn the notes as a symbol of letting go.
21 Jul, 2022
The Madisonville Community Studio is an ongoing project co-created by Madisonville residents and Design Impact to explore key questions about the inclusiveness of neighborhood changes. The project is supported by the Kresge Foundation. To improve interracial relationships in Madisonville and increase Black residents’ power, influence, and representation in the neighborhood’s development decisions.
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