Established in 2006, the Art | Global Health Center at UCLA is committed to supporting and developing scholarship focused at the nexus of art and health; to fostering interdisciplinary interaction among artists, public health workers, and medical professionals, at UCLA and beyond; to creating new opportunities for engaged scholarship; and to reuniting the consideration of art and health around the globe. These objectives are currently pursued through the Center's major initiative, MAKE ART/STOP AIDS.

In its first full year of operation, the Art|Global Health Center (AGHC) succeeded in establishing its organization with administrative and research development staff support; with extended visibility through programs and events; and by diversifying its funding base through grants, partnerships, gifts and new research collaborations. David Gere, AGHC Director and lead PI, set the stage for a multi-year strategy with an expanded, global vision for MAKE ART/STOP AIDS (MA/SA).

AGHC SUPPORT

The MA/SA initiative was founded in 2003 with a Global Impact Research grant from UCLA International Institute. This was the first round of such grants from the Institute, underlining the promise of this interdisciplinary venture based in the arts. Project director David Gere, Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the World Arts and Cultures department at UCLA, established the MAKE ART/STOP AIDS network in India in 2004, with funding provided by a Fulbright research grant. Subsequent major support has been received from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, the UCLA Center for Community Partnerships, the UCLA AIDS Institute, the UCLA International Institute, the Office of Instructional Development, the UCLA Office of Research, the UC Institute for Research in the Arts (UCIRA), the UC Humanities Research Institute, the United States Education Foundation in India (USEFI), and UNAIDS, the United Nations umbrella organization for HIV/AIDS. Future funding will include grants from the Warhol Foundation and the Ford Foundation.