Great art can educate and empower. Beyond aesthetics and story, it also serves as a bridge to understanding and addressing issues in education, economic development, and even public health—and it can be found everywhere, from city streets to apartment complexes.
That’s where a public health/theatre outreach collaboration recently found its audience. Mid-America Arts Alliance’s Culture of Health–Advancing Together (CHAT) partnered with Brave Little Company (BLC), a Houston-based theatre group. The goal was to teach women in the city’s Afghan refugee community about women’s health topics. And the result was new relationships, open communication, and personal empowerment.
Not bad for six scenes presented by four Afghan women actors. The performers and audience met in an apartment complex during the day while kids were at school. While younger children made art with a teaching artist, women enjoyed performances and discussions in their native Dari, providing a welcoming space to talk about health topics.
What role can art play in public health?
Using art and performance to talk about public health might not seem like an obvious choice. But it’s the kind of outreach that CHAT has become known for. One of the program’s main tenets is supporting communities by fostering health through arts, education, advocacy,and access to care. After all, art can build healthier, more resilient communities.
Brave Little Company has worked with CHAT in the past, notably on BLC’s THE BIG “US” PROJECT, a collaborative theater piece led by members of Houston’s refugee and immigrant communities. As a nonprofit theater focused on work about, with, and for Houston’s diverse communities, Brave Little Company has relationships that transcend the 140 languages spoken in the city. From workshops, touring performances, residencies in schools, or dual language programming Brave Little Company lives their mission of “theatre for everyone.”
“The best type of partnership is when each half can rest in their own expertise,” says Troy Scheid, founder and director of Brave Little Company. “CHAT came in with the public health expertise, so I don’t need a PhD in public health and they don’t need a theater background. Being able to talk it through and see potential, complementary ways our areas of expertise work together is very rewarding.”
So when funding became available from the Harris County Public Health department, the path forward was clear. CHAT founder Dr. Aisha Siddiqui, DrPH, worked with Troy to determine the topics to be covered. And Troy worked with female writers and actors in Houston’s Afghan community to write and stage the program. The women also had experience in Afghanistan as health educators, midwives, and writers of radio plays and teleplays. The end project was titled Voice for Women’s Health: Raising Awareness Through Telling Stories Together.
The program proved that theater can fit anywhere.
The performances wouldn’t have worked in a fancy theater downtown. Part of the power of the sessions was in how they broke down barriers to participation.
“We worked inside an apartment complex, performing for people who live in that complex,” Troy says. “The women may not be able to drive or have access to a car, and they have their kids after school. Really going to where the people are is the way to get them to participate in the program.”
The scenes also reduced barriers by presenting logistical information in the audience’s native tongue. Women got data about how to navigate the complicated US health system, and information about over the counter medications they may need.
“Often, the scene was two ladies talking and one saying, ‘I’m having this issue,’ and the other lady saying, ‘What you can do is this,’” Troy says.
It’s friendly, accessible theater that literally speaks the audience’s language.
“The feedback has been that they really enjoyed the program and appreciate the information,” Troy says. “They want more programming.”
This is art and work that’s an ongoing labor of love.
For many arts organizations, appealing to diverse communities is less about outreach and more about assimilating new groups into the audience that already exists.
“It might work some of the time, but it does not apply to work with refugee communities,” Troy says. “We’re always looking to build a relationship with them that goes beyond the transactional. How can we collaborate to create something, but also think about relationships that go beyond the project we’re working on?”
With recent cuts in funding for human services, agencies aren’t able to support refugees as they once did. So these ongoing relationships have evolved. When BLC’s work with refugees first began, Troy and the other BIG “US” facilitators found they were often the best resource for simple but baffling elements of American life, such as changing the battery in a beeping smoke detector. Now the needs are greater, and BLC artists are sometimes asked to communicate with Afghan parents on behalf of a school, or to pass on important messages from a leasing office to refugee tenants.
“The question we ask as a leadership team is: How do we show our love in our relationships?” Troy says. “The more stories we can tell that reflect the people living in our city, the better we know our city. Houston is one of the most diverse places on the planet, so the stories we bring to our stages should be diverse as well.”
This is the kind of inclusivity and resilience that Brave Little Company and CHAT are working to facilitate. Stronger, more connected communities make us all healthier—and better. Learn how you can support these efforts.