Hollywood’s finest are coming together to support the arts in a new PSA for the Arts for EveryBody campaign.
Samuel L. Jackson, Aloe Blacc, Jay Ellis and more stars are featured in a new promotional video for the national arts organization, which sets out to establish the importance of the arts and health in America. The campaign is inspired by the 1936 Federal Theatre Project and will involve artists across 18 cities in America creating around the prompt “no place like home.”
A number of the stars appear on screen wearing matching Arts for EveryBody shirts, naming different mediums of art they “love” including “writing, improv, the theater” and more. The organization places emphasis on the relationship between the arts and “healthier people and communities.”
“Our elders are at a 48 percent lower risk of depression if they paint sunsets instead of watching TV,” said a collection of celebrities finishing one another’s sentences. “Kids are more likely to stay in school if they are writing poetry. That is fact, not fiction.”
The campaign, which will commence on July 27, hopes to unify Americans at a time where we truly “need” it. Across America, cities including Seattle, Providence and others will simultaneously premiere “large-scale participatory” art projects which take inspiration from the “sounds, styles and stories of their communities.”
The projects, created by a collection of artists, civic leaders and community health providers, will “celebrate American pluralism — of unity through diversity.”
Arts for EveryBody has been featured in several media outlets, including The Kelly Clarkson Show, where founder and co–artistic director Lear DeBessonet discussed the organization’s vision for the future of the arts.
“Participating in the arts reduces stress and loneliness — two things that frankly we all struggle with and that also have huge impacts on our bodies and on the health of individuals and communities,” DeBessonet told Clarkson. “We are so excited to manifest what is possible, and shine a light on these 18 incredible cities and towns doing the work.”
Video credits: Executive Producer: Clyde Valentin, Directors: Jacqueline Devine and Michael Skolnik, Videography: Tanisha Moreno, Camera Assistant: Elaine Pusey, Video Editor: Zoë Miller, Producers: Lennox King and Alexsys Grishaber, Hair and Makeup Artists: Manu Horn and Tilomai Hill, Production Assistants: Jhanelle Elissa, Fletcher Jones IV, Nathan Delva
