Art for Our Common Good: Creativity, Health, and Civic Life

Maria is University Professor of Creativity and Social Impact at Arizona State University, with appointments in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts and the Watts College of Public Purpose and Community Solutions. Appointed by President Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she served as chair of the National Endowment for the Arts from 2021 to 2025 and was previously appointed to the National Council on the Arts by President Obama. Across a 30-year career in policy, philanthropy, research and evaluation, and comprehensive community development, her work has focused on the role of arts, culture, and creativity in building healthy communities, strengthening democracy, supporting artists, and advancing equity and resilience.

Deborah is vice president for the arts at Stanford University and a nationally recognized leader in the role artists and arts organizations play in civic life. She previously served as CEO of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and executive director of Intersection for the arts in San Francisco. Her work has focused on mobilizing communities through arts and culture, building civic coalitions, and advancing equity and justice through creativity. She is a co-founder of CultureBank and has served in leadership and advisory roles with several arts, civic, and economic recovery initiatives.

Catherine is Commonweal New School’s Visiting Scholar in July 2026. She is a consultant paediatric anaesthetist at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, where she has worked since 2009. She has special interest in the prevention and management of procedural anxiety and distress and the prevention of medical trauma. She incorporates hypnosis, Visual Thinking Strategies, the humanities, narrative, and the imagination into her work, which has allowed her to shift the way she teaches language and communication in healthcare contexts.

Jennifer is a Nigerian climate advocate, sustainability expert, and the creator of SustyVibes, a youth-driven initiative aimed at making sustainability understandable and achievable for Nigerian youth. SustVibes started as an educational blog aimed at simplifying sustainability and environmental advocacy for young Nigerians. Recognizing the power of pop culture and activism, she transformed it into a vibrant youth-led movement that uses creative mediums—music, dance, art, and community events—to drive sustainable action.

Lisa serves as the executive director of the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts located on U Street in Washington, DC. Smith Center’s mission is to provide whole-person care and support—for people with cancer, their caregivers and providers—that nurtures healing and wellness through integrative and arts-based practices, programs, gallery exhibitions and community events. Lisa also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization for Arts in Health (NOAH), a membership organization that builds community to amplify, educate about, and advocate for the power of the arts to improve health and wellbeing for all people.