AGES TAKE ACTION: GIVE THE VACCINE A SHOT
los angeles, ca
A staple healthcare institution for the predominantly BIPOC community of Watts/Willowbrook and surrounding South Los Angeles closes after 35 years, and in its closure leaves residents with lack of immediate access to any care. So, what does the community need most in this time of inequitable access to healthcare? Yes, a new 217,000 square foot facility and campus with enhanced quality of care, which came to full fruition in 2015 - some 8 years following the original facility’s closure. However, an entirely new healthcare campus is not all the community received, because in 2018 this state of the art healthcare campus received its first-ever Artist in Residence, Heidi Duckler Dance, an innovative decision that solidified the role of the arts in the health and well-being of communities.
In 2018, Heidi Duckler Dance, with the support of a National Endowment for the Arts “Our Town” grant, received the honor of being the first Artist in Residence at the new campus of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital in Watts/Willowbrook, a neighborhood of South Los Angeles. This residency served as an example of the opportunities that can exist between the arts and healthcare for the benefit of health and social cohesion amongst community members and the institutions that serve them. The “MoveWell@MLK” residency focused on upholding and supporting existing community bonds and forming new ones through the facilitation of community performances showcasing Heidi Duckler Dance’s signature place-based dance productions, high-quality arts education programs moving community members of all ages and abilities, and then a global pandemic happened. As access to vaccines increased in Spring/Summer 2021, and residents in and surrounding Watts/Willowbrook were reluctant to partake in the vaccine - even with data showing that Black and Latinx identifying residents of California together make up over 50% of COVID-19 cases and deaths - a new opportunity for the intentionality of the residency arose. In recognition of the medical distrust, inability to schedule vaccination appointments, and other factors that contribute to low vaccination rates, Ages Take Action: Give the Vaccine a Shot, a community-driven COVID-19 vaccine initiative and Public Service Announcement (PSA) was created.
Ages Take Action: Give the Vaccine a Shot, a collaboration between Heidi Duckler Dance, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital Campus, Los Angeles Unified School District, community members, and community institutions throughout Watts/Willowbrook, began as a nontraditional PSA created to provide both an artistic and personal approach to dissemination of vaccine information, because amongst the numerous resources that existed none engaged the arts - that which connect us most to our humanity. Using the arts, the PSA gave community members an uncomplicated opportunity to engage civically for the betterment of their community by participating in the filming vocally and through movement. But even once the PSA full of movement and vital messaging was completed, more needed to be done to address the concerns of those with vaccine hesitancy. So the decision was made to physically take the PSA throughout the community via public screenings, each with a panel of doctors and community representatives available to engage in dialogue with attendees about COVID-19, the pandemic, and the COVID-19 vaccine (social capital- bridging); the intention being to foster open conversations that would increase fact and science informed decisions about receiving the vaccination.
Since April 2021, Ages Take Action has produced and released a PSA featuring 25 community stakeholders and two screenings and panel discussions, one in July 2021 at the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, and the other in September 2021 at the Watts Coffee House, with plans to continue hosting screenings with the MLK Community Hospital Campus and current community partners and those identified through work with the South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone (SLATE-Z). The screenings and panel discussions have engaged over 50 individuals via organizational partnerships, and engaged about 25 community attendees per screening. In the most recent screening at Watts Coffee House, Tust, Research, Access, and Prevention (TRAP) Medicine partnered with Ages Take Action to share information about COVID-19, and distribute colorectal health kits and other health education materials centered around illnesses predominantly found in BIPOC communities. As Ages Take Action develops with influence by the community it is our primary goal that this space is open to all in the community to voice their concerns for the trajectory of COVID-19 recovery, while providing artistic opportunities for community members to use movement as a tool for healing, engaging civically, and facilitating conversations on collective community goals for Watts/Willowbrook and social cohesion for COVID-19 recovery and beyond.
Additionally, as Los Angeles County continues to reopen with an emphasis on vaccination mandates to participate in everyday interactions, it is ever important to disseminate fact and science backed information about COVID-19 and the vaccine, so that historically excluded groups have the essential knowledge to make their decisions on vaccination before further sanctioned exclusion. Heidi Duckler Dance will continue hosting screenings where community members and organizations can connect over shared goals necessary for the true ownership of their community (mindset- orientation toward common good), receive vaccinations and vaccine information, and move their body, until we reach herd immunity or reach a time when Ages Take Action has served its full purpose.
How arts & culture moved the dial in Watts/Willowbrook...
Ages Take Action is an ongoing initiative to the extent that COVID-19 and the pandemic are affecting the community, and already the infusion of the arts and culture into increasing knowledge of COVID-19 and vaccination has proved transformative. As a BIPOC community, Watts/Willowbrook’s low vaccination rates have roots in medical injustices against the bodies of BIPOC persons, a neglect to prioritize communities of color in initial vaccine rollout, and economic conditions that left community members without the availability or resources to schedule and receive a vaccine. Ages Take Action and other arts and place-based initiatives centered around COVID-19 create creative responses to these barriers rooted in racism and trauma, while also creating open dialogues of community building and collective action between community members and the medical and social organizations serving them (creative responses to trauma and racism- rebuilding social cohesion). The pandemic is far from over, but through continued Ages Take Action screenings the opportunities for community-catalysed collaboration on COVID-19 recovery in Watts/Willowbrook are endless, and set the precedent for what collaboration looks like post-pandemic.
Place-based arts and cultural strategies…
Ages Take Action: Give the Vaccine a Shot exists as a collaborative place-based initiative specific to COVID-19 recovery in Watts/Willowbrook through Heidi Duckler Dance’s MoveWell@MLK residency. The work would not be possible without the support of the MLK Community Hospital Campus, community organizations that have hosted and participated in screenings, and the community members that have participated in various capacities (collective action- community participation leads to deeper engagement). To date, the initiative has invited community organizations and members to be a part of the creation of a movement-filled PSA, as well as to participate in two screenings and panel discussions of the PSA, with plans for more community engagement opportunities connecting more residents to their local organizations doing amazing work.
...amplify the drivers of social cohesion…
The relationships fostered between organizations and individuals within the community carry the power to extend beyond COVID-19 recovery and to serve as a vital resource for the continued growth of Watts/Willowbrook (social capital- bonding). As an initiative that seeks to listen and amplify the concerns of community stakeholders, Ages Take Actions provides answers to vital questions that too often go unaddressed, so that autonomy about the trajectory of Watts/Willowbrook rests with the only people that should have a say in the matter, the community (place attachment; civic engagement). Heidi Duckler Dance and other participating community organizations serve the function of providing community members with the facts, answers, and resources they want in regards to COVID-19 and efforts to recover from the health and economic results of the pandemic (mindset- encouraging participation from all types of community members).
...to increase equitable community well-being.
Both mental and physical health are being addressed in efforts to support the Watts/Willowbrook community to recover from the devastating impact of COVID-19 on physical community health, but also in the mental health impacts of loss of life, economic stressors, and the uncertainty caused by this novel moment in history. While not a complete solution to these health impacts, the arts, movement specifically, carry restorative benefits that not only produce physical signs of wellness but also mental and emotional benefits as well. Ages Take Action cannot alone be the solution to creating equitable systems that serve the Watts/Willowbrook community, but it serves as a model for the social capital that is created when community organizations of all sectors collaborate with community members on issues affecting the community most. We will continue collaboratively producing community engagement events that bring together all stakeholders of Watts/Willowbrook to discuss and plan what is needed to create equitable community well-being not only for today, but for the future.
