Tennessee Arts Commission awards grant funds to ten TN rural hospitals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  December 19, 2025

Tennessee Arts Commission awards total $175,000 in arts and health funds to 10 TN rural hospitals

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Tennessee Arts Commission has awarded $175,000 in grant funding for the inaugural Tennessee Arts & Rural Health Initiative, a pilot program supporting arts-based projects designed to improve health and wellness outcomes in rural Tennessee hospitals.

A collaboration between the TN Arts Commission and the Tennessee Hospital Association, this initiative supports 10 hospitals—four in West Tennessee, three in Middle Tennessee, and three in East Tennessee — to use the arts to benefit patients, their families and hospital staff.

Credit: Tennessee Arts Commission

“The launch of the Tennessee Arts & Rural Health Initiative shows our commitment to arts-based approaches to benefit health and quality of life outcomes as well as investing in rural communities,” said Jenny Boyd, chair of the Tennessee Arts Commission. “We look closely at supporting arts in all 95 counties of the state, and the final awards in this category ensure that hospitals in each grand division of our state are represented.”

This initiative expands upon existing efforts by the Commission in centering the arts as an effective framework for benefiting health outcomes. The Commission recently completed two arts and health flagship programs, Creative Aging TN, connecting older adults with creative opportunities, and the TN Person-Centered Music Program, using individualized music for nursing home residents.

These existing programs aim to reduce social isolation, improve quality of life, decrease medication usage, and increase staff retention while forging partnerships with the TN Department of Health, TN Health Care Association, and TN Department of Disability and Aging. The TN Arts & Rural Health Initiative builds upon this work now with the TN Hospital Association.

“Hospitals know first-hand that healing extends beyond medical treatment alone. These grants will allow hospitals to create peaceful, community-centered spaces that support patients’ physical, mental, and emotional recovery, and remind families that they are receiving care in places that feel familiar, calming, and close to home,” said Andrew Burnett, Vice President, Workforce and Rural Health of the Tennessee Hospital Association.”

This program is funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as state funds including the TN Arts Commission’s Targeted Arts Development Initiative, which supports the arts in counties designated as at-risk or distressed by the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Projects are scheduled to begin in January 2026 and include the creation of onsite murals; pediatric therapy bedside art sessions; the addition of artwork in medical staff spaces; and transforming an art-driven courtyard garden on hospital grounds.

“This initiative recognizes that the arts can help foster healing spaces in patient rooms, hallways, and waiting areas in hospital settings,” said Anne B. Pope, executive director of the Tennessee Arts Commission. “The TN Hospital Association has been an instrumental partner in connecting our community of artists to rural health providers across the state. We are so pleased to work together to benefit rural wellbeing in TN communities.”

Grant awards include:

EAST
Erlanger Bledsoe Hospital — Bledsoe County
Fort Loudoun Medical Center (Covenant Health Fort Loudoun) — Loudon County
Hancock County Hospital (Wellmont Health System) — Hancock County

MIDDLE
Ascension Saint Thomas Stones River Hospital — Cannon County
Macon County General Hospital Inc. — Macon County
Unity Medical Center — Coffee County

WEST
Arts in McNairy for Magnolia Regional Health Center Selmer — McNairy County
Hardin Medical Center — Hardin County
Ascension Saint Thomas Three Rivers Hospital (Humphreys County Government) — Humphreys County
Main Street Lawrenceburg for Southern Tennessee Regional Health System — Lawrence County

Projects are scheduled to conclude June 1, 2026.

Find more Tennessee news stories here.