Doris Duke Foundation awards $5 million for national arts and wellness initiative

One Nation/One Project (ONOP) has announced a grant of up to $5 million from the Doris Duke Foundation (DDF) in support of a national arts program to improve community health and health equity through artmaking in communities across the United States.

ONOP—a sponsored partner of the Tides Center—is collaborating with local leaders from the arts, health, and public sectors in nine communities—Chicago, Illinois; Edinburg, Texas; Gainesville, Florida; Harlan County, Kentucky; Phillips County, Arkansas; Providence, Rhode Island; Rhinelander, Wisconsin; Utica, Mississippi; and Winston-Salem, North Carolina—to “leverage the power of the arts to strengthen the social fabric of the nation and heal communities across the U.S.” Selected in partnership with the National League of Cities and the Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida, each community in the initial cohort will be funded to create a large participatory art project responding to the theme of “no place like home,” with each community debuting its unique presentation on the same day in July 2024 that will have the effect of “nationally amplifying hyperlocal stories of place.”

“Though national in scope, ONOP maintains its focus squarely on individual communities, building toward unique artistic productions that invite cities and towns to align their strengths and elevate their stories to a national platform established on creativity, collaboration, and the collective desire for a healthier and more equitable future for all,” said ONOP co-artistic director Clyde Valentín.

In addition to funding from DDF, ONOP is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Tow, Sozosei, Robert and Mercedes Eichholz, and Katie McGrath & J.J. Abrams Family foundations as well as other individual supporters.

“This visionary gift from the Doris Duke Foundation will allow One Nation/One Project to birth a new model of cross-sector collaboration between local artists, municipal leaders, and health workers,” said ONOP co-artistic director Lear deBessonet. “With this gift, DDF has made a bold, profound investment toward a future in which all American cities and towns benefit from the tremendous healing power of the arts.”

Photo credit: Jesus Iniguez, Center for Cultural Power/Courtesy ONOP