Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund – Arts in Health Initiative
The Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund is dedicated to increasing access and opportunity for all New Yorkers and fostering healthy, vibrant communities. In 2018, the Illumination Fund launched its Arts in Health initiative to support organizations across New York City that use the arts to improve health and advance health equity.
Building on the initiative’s early success, in 2024 the Illumination Fund increased its original $10 million commitment to $25 million. Grantee organizations serve diverse communities including families, older adults, youth, immigrants, and other underserved populations. They use a wide range of creative disciplines—including dance, music, visual arts, theater, storytelling, and community murals—to address mental health stigma, trauma, aging-related diseases, and the well-being of frontline healthcare workers.
In addition to direct program support, the Illumination Fund uses an equity lens to invest in professional development, program evaluation, and efforts to strengthen the broader arts in health ecosystem. This includes hosting convenings to foster collaboration and innovation among grantees and sponsoring national and international conferences—such as the National Organization for Arts in Health—to advance shared learning and sustained impact.
For more information, visit www.lmtif.org.
Featured photo above: NYC Health + Hospitals Community Mural Project ribbon cutting celebration for We Are Kings by artist Jodi Dareal, with Dr. MItchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals president and CEO; Sheldon McLeod, NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County CEO; Laurie Tisch, president of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund; Jodi Dareal; and members of the Kings County staff and community. Photo courtesy NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine department.
Survivors of war, displacement, and gender-based violence create story cloths with Common Threads Project as part of healing circles. In addition to providing direct services, Common Threads Project provides training to facilitators around the world, multiplying its impact beyond its program participants. Photo courtesy Common Threads Project
Darkness RISING Live events feature Broadway stars, music, dance, and yoga, to help reduce stigma around mental health and to connect BIPOC audiences to culturally competent mental health resources. Darkness RISING Live in Harlem, 2023. Photo from film by Richard Davis
Gibney’s Move to Move Beyond program offers the transformative power of movement to survivors of gender-based violence and their families. Along with Move to Move Beyond, Gibney Community Action created Hands are For Holding to help young people talk about healthy relationships, and the Move to Move Beyond Storytellers, with performances across New York CIty to raise awareness and reduce stigma for survivors of gender-based and domestic violence. Photo by Julieta Cervantes
NYC Health + Hospitals Community Mural Project paint party for The Shoulders of Legacy by Angel Garcia at NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, 2021. Community murals are collaborative artworks between hospital staff, patients, and the surrounding community to spark joy, promote healing, and increase empathy for participants and everyone entering the facility. Photo Courtesy the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund and NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine department.