RISD’s Make It Better Symposium Brings Art & Design to Healthcare

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

GoLocalProv Features Team

Placing its central mission squarely in the center of one of the nation's greatest concerns, RISD hosts a fascinating symposium this week.

On March 11 and 12, the university presents Make It Better, a symposium on art, design and the future of healthcare. The Friday evening and full-day Saturday event takes place in Providence at the RISD Auditorium.

Supported by a grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the two-day symposium brings leading artists, designers, and activists together with health professionals, policy-makers, entrepreneurs and members of the RISD community in a series of conversations to frame an expanded role for art and design in healthcare innovation and change.

How can artists and designers contribute to health and healthcare?

“At RISD we are redefining an institutional model for art and design research that incorporates expanded engagement with problem solving for the public good,” said Deborah Bright, RISD’s Dean of Fine Arts. “As part of this, we are asking questions such as: What are the forms of practice that enable artists and designers to engage with healthcare beyond conventional models and narrow instrumentality? How can artists and designers contribute to public discourse on the complex issues associated with health and healthcare – from medical and ethical considerations to economic, political and cultural concerns?”

Make It Better will look at how artists and designers – both at RISD and elsewhere – engage with issues of health and wellness in innovative and unexpected ways. It will focus on the role of these visually astute critical thinkers and problem solvers in helping to improve healthcare delivery, public health and everyday wellness.

From a student panel to national keynote speakers

Make It Better will begin with a RISD student discussion on their art and design research in health-related fields on Friday afternoon, March 11, followed at 5pm by a keynote address delivered by Dr. Howard K. Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A second keynote will be delivered by Donna Garland, Associate Director for Communication, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The symposium will continue on Saturday, March 12 with a full day of talks, panel discussions and conversations including prominent members of the art, design, medical and research communities.
Detailed programming and registration – which is required even though there is no fee – is available online, here.

Dean Bright and President John Maeda are leading the institutional initiative, serving as co-Principal Investigators, along with a programming committee made up of faculty, staff, and students. Make It Better builds upon past publicly engaged studios and partnerships at RISD and looks to the future as a means of examining how artists and designers – with their specific skills, practices and peculiarities – can help create new forms of knowledge and develop products, systems and processes that help improve healthcare delivery and make it more humane.

Remarkable roster of speakers

Make It Better speakers include Mel Chin, artist; Darell Hammond, KaBOOM!; Amale Andraos, WORKac; Kelli Auerbach, California Institute of the Arts; Dr. Jay Baruch, Brown University Medical School; Kelly Dobson, RISD Digital + Media; Susan Doyle, RISD Illustration; Alexandra Drane, Eliza Corporation; Sarah Goldhagen, The New Republic; Natalie Jeremijenko, artist; Lindsay Kinkade, RISD Graphic Design; Khipra Nichols, RISD Industrial Design; Claire Pentecost, artist; Aidan Petrie, Ximedica; Damon Rich, City of Newark Urban Designer and Center for Urban Pedagogy; Benjamin Sawyer, DigitalMill and Games for Health; Pamela H. Wescott, MPP, Patient Perspectives Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making.

The symposium is free and open to the public, but requires registration in advance.