Flourish

Flourish: Community-Engaged Arts and Social Wellness

Andrea Charise is the principal investigator of “Flourish”, one of four inaugural Clusters of Scholarly Prominence established at UTSC in late 2020. Gathering together an interdisciplinary team of faculty, graduate, and undergraduate researchers—drawn from Departments including Arts Culture Media (ACM), Health and Society, and the Faculty of Medicine)—“Flourish” explores the ways creative arts engagement enhances social connection and wellness across the life-course. 

The Flourish team combines expertise in arts-based (health) research methods, fine and performing arts, community-engaged practice, assessment/education science, and knowledge translation/implementation to investigate how creative practices might enhance the “global judgments of life satisfaction” that help define community-engaged wellness.

Using an arts-led, community-engaged approach to research and partnership, our aim is to 1) amplify local capacity in arts and community-centered definitions of wellness and 2) advocate for these strategic objectives provincially, nationally, and internationally.