What is HAPPY?

We are an initiative of Yale School of Public Health that seeks to leverage the power of storytelling using the arts and humanities to inspire the public to improve community health.

Our Stories – whether they are films, plays, television, photography, poetry, dance, novels, music, painting, or design – can inspire and galvanize us to advocate for change.

HAPPY aspires to garner the power of the arts and humanities to beckon the public to embrace the science and research that can improve public health.

The need is more pressing than ever to find creative solutions to public health challenges.

Research shows that providing compelling stories of individuals by drawing on the arts and humanities can spark social change.

1. To bridge the complementary perspectives and contributions of humanities, arts, and public health practice to improve the health of communities.
2. To develop a plan and partnerships for an interdisciplinary program that incorporates Yale’s rich and diverse resources across the university.
3. To offer students from all of Yale’s schools and colleges a thought-provoking and unique lens into public health challenges and their solutions through innovative courses and events leveraging Yale’s renowned arts and humanities departments.

Education

Train students to use interdisciplinary arts to promote community health through arts and humanities courses.

Goals: Develop multidisciplinary courses in YSPH using arts and humanities to promote health. Our first courses are meeting this Spring ‘22:

• Humanities, Arts, and Public Health -
  Explore the possibilities and challenges of using arts and humanities to address public health issues
• Storybuilding: Inclusive Design and Public Health -
  Assess and design inclusive access to the Queens Museum, NYC
• Soda Politics -
  Design social policy to improve public health focused on the soda industry using a variety of storytelling modalities.
  

Collaboration

Build collaborations to establish a center for arts, humanities, and public health practice.

Goals: Build an evidence base for ethical, practical use of arts and humanities to improve health outcomes. Develop innovative outcome evaluation strategies to measure the impact of the arts to promote health.

Research

Conduct research and develop evaluation strategies to measure health outcomes of arts-based programming.

Goals: Build an evidence base for ethical, practical use of arts and humanities to improve health outcomes. Develop innovative outcome evaluation strategies to measure the impact of the arts to promote health.