Bringing the arts and sciences together: The HEART Intiative

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Scientific research and the arts don’t exist in separate silos. Arts-based research can be used to investigate and illuminate important questions of science, as evidenced by the work of the HEART Initiative, which exists at the intersection of Health, Environment and the Arts (hence the acronym).

The faculty members whose work is part of the HEART Initiative at UMass Amherst span several colleges and include Professor Marla Miller, Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. Examples of the work they’ve done are now live on the HEARTBeats blog, which includes entries from Miller, Principal Investigator Aline Gubrium, (Professor of Community Health Education in the Department of Health Promotion and Policy in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences), and several others. 

“The idea was to showcase the work we're doing, to think about cross-cutting themes that were coming together through the work,” Gubrium says. “I would not claim myself as an artist, but I do arts-based work, arts-based research.” The blog serves to explain arts-based research, as well as to draw out others who might be doing this type of research. 

“I would say it was a case of folks from an array of public health and anthropology backgrounds reaching toward the arts and humanities to expand their research efficacy, and folks in the arts and humanities whose work seeks to advance aims in health and wellbeing reaching toward colleagues in health-related disciplines to better understand how the arts can advance research and effect change,” Miller says.

For example, a post by Erin DeCou and co-Principal Investigator Sarah Goff describes PhotoVoice, a project that looks at causes and solutions of the mental health crisis among teens in the LGBTQ community and asks the students themselves to weigh in. Among the work produced as part of the project was a series of ‘zines,’ small folded handmade booklets created by teens that illuminate aspects of their LGBTQ experience with illustrations and text.

Talking about another zine-based project that’s part of the HEART Initiative, Gubrium mentioned, “It was just so much fun. And that is part of what art should be. I mean, it can be political, of course, and comment, and raise awareness and shock, but it also, hopefully, can be fun. And that's one of the reasons I've been so enamored with arts-based approaches.”

Miller has several entries on the blog. She met Gubrium when the latter was just starting to develop the HEART Initiative. “In 2023-24 HFA hosted a series of gatherings to bring together likeminded people from HFA and beyond, and through those conversations I met Aline,” Miller explains. “I was really energized by the vision she was already developing for the HEART Initiative, and enthusiastic to join when the LIRA grant initiative created an opportunity to move the project forward.”

Miller was interested in connecting health and the humanities and describes herself as having “longtime interests at the intersection of public history and aging population.” She has worked with the national working group ‘Uniting Public History and End-of-Life Care.’

When asked to select a HEARTbeats blog post that best typifies the HEART Initiative, both Miller and Gumbrium point to posts about digital storytelling.

“I do love the digital storytelling work, so I think the May 22nd post, with the two stories that are presented there and the reflections around digital storytelling, is pretty useful,” Gubrium says. In the post, Isabel Castellano centered her story around place, while Joan Giovannini talked about food and cooking. “It's not only the digital story itself, but also cooking and food as an art, and how it connects people. It's really beautiful. They both are.”

“Probably the highlight of the year was the digital storytelling workshop that Aline ran in January. A wildly diverse array of people from various places around campus came together for an intensive workshop in digital storytelling as a method to prompt structured reflection,” Miller says. “Practicing it ourselves helped us see the magic that can unfold both as an individual strives to articulate with brevity some powerful story in their lives. It really was marvelous, and a successful ‘proof of principle’ for the HEART Initiative itself.”

Folks who are interested in the research can reach out to Aline Gubrium for more information.