Social Art and Culture to host World Diabetes Day roundtable in Washington

Social Art and Culture will hold a free World Diabetes Day roundtable on Nov. 14 in Washington, D.C., focused on using art as a social prescription in Type 2 diabetes care. The event builds on the group’s Diabetes in Color pilot as District health advocates look for more culturally grounded ways to improve education, reduce stigma and support people living with diabetes.

Why it matters: - Washington, D.C. has an estimated adult diabetes prevalence of 11.1%, with about 36,000 adults, or 14.3% of the adult population, diagnosed with diabetes. - Social Art and Culture is trying to move diabetes education beyond clinical statistics and toward creative, community-based care. - The approach is aimed at people living with Type 2 diabetes in communities of color, where the burden is higher and the need for culturally grounded outreach is greater.

What happened: - Social Art and Culture will host Artivists for Health: World Diabetes Day Roundtable Discussion on Nov. 14 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, Room 401-A, in Washington, D.C. - The event is free, but RSVPs are required because seating is limited. - The discussion is part of the Artivists for Health Initiative and will focus on “Art As A Social Prescription.” - The event is presented in partnership with WPFW 89.3 FM and We Act Radio. - Lisa Simms Booth, executive director of the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, will moderate.

The details: - The panel will include JaVe Bonner, founder of GeneHouse; Dr. Daemon Jones, founder and naturopath at Healthy Daes; Dr. Stephen B. Thomas, professor at the University of Maryland in Health Policy and Management and director of the Maryland Center for Health Equity; and Scott Perry, a Washington, D.C. resident living with Type 2 diabetes. - The conversation will examine how arts-based practices can work alongside traditional diabetes care management. - The panel is expected to explore how creative wellness activities can serve as a complement to clinical treatment. - Social Art and Culture launched Diabetes in Color, an art-based health prescription pilot, in spring 2026. - Diabetes in Color is designed to improve Type 2 diabetes outcomes in communities of color. - Diabetes in Color is a signature project of Social Art and Culture’s Artivists for Health program. - The Artivists for Health program integrates artistic expression and social prescribing into public health education, awareness and disease management. - The program’s programming is geared toward residents of Wards 5, 7 and 8. - Diabetes in Color addresses the higher number of people living with Type 2 diabetes in Washington, D.C., including significantly higher rates among non-Hispanic Black adults than the general population. - The event description says physicians, medical experts and public health providers can recommend creative wellness activities as part of holistic care. - In a 2025 NPR Morning Edition interview, Dr. Alan Siegel of Kaiser Permanente and executive director of Social Prescribing USA said, “Social prescribing really has the promise and the research to back it up to change health care in ways that would be healing for all of us”.

Between the lines: - The roundtable reflects growing interest in social prescribing, a model that links health care with nonmedical supports such as arts participation and community connection. - The focus on lived experience suggests Social Art and Culture wants the conversation to move beyond diagnosis and data toward stigma reduction and long-term wellness. - The event also positions the arts as a public health tool, not just a cultural one.

What's next: - Social Art and Culture is expected to continue building out Artivists for Health and Diabetes in Color as part of its broader public health work. - The Nov. 14 discussion could help shape future community-facing programming for residents most affected by Type 2 diabetes in the District. - The organization says its work will continue to center equity, creative practice and socially responsible arts programming.

The bottom line: - Social Art and Culture is using World Diabetes Day to push a simple message: creative practice can be part of diabetes care, not separate from it. - More information: RSVP for the roundtable