Artists from ASU and the community sold their work at the Art for Health fundraiser in downtown Phoenix on Friday night to support local nursing centers that serve people who couldn’t otherwise afford health care.

Art for Health, in its sixth year, is a collaboration between the arts community and health-care providers to showcase local artists’ work while also helping a good cause, said Denise Link, coordinator of the event.

The fundraiser, which took place at Grace Lutheran Church, started out as a benefit for Breaking the Cycle, a nurse-managed health center located there that provides family planning, reproductive and preventive health care for women, Link said.

“Our focus as nurses [at Breaking the Cycle] is on wellness and prevention,” she said. “Not just the immediate problem, but teaching people to be proactive and not become ill [in the first place].”

Art for Health has averaged raising several thousand dollars per year for Breaking the Cycle, Link said, and she expected this year’s art sale to match or exceed that number.

Because of this success, the event was expanded this year to raise funds for all five nurse-related health centers managed by the College of Nursing and Healthcare Innovation, said Link, who is executive dean for Clinical Practice and Community Partnerships within the school.

Rhese sites — located in Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe — help uninsured people get basic health care, an issue Link said needs greater attention now more than ever as people are losing jobs and insurance.

“There are a lot more people who need help [now], and we thought we’d take advantage of the other locations to expand assistance,” she said.

Art for Health supports these clinics, because they provide an alternative to the sometimes-overlooked segment of society that needs health care but may not have the resources to get it, Link said.

The nurse-managed health centers also serve as an invaluable educational tool to undergraduate nursing students, she said, who gain experience and knowledge by working at these free health-care environments.

Link said the choice to raise funds for these health centers by hosting an art sale gives people at ASU and in the community who may be unaware of this cause a chance to become involved.

“You’re reaching out to a completely different group of people who might not have needed these clinics as a patient, or be a student [but] can still participate,” she said.

The annual art sale is an attempt to “throw a wider net” and get more people actively supporting affordable health care, such as ASU art students, Link said.

“We thought that would be great, to showcase the Herberger College [of the Arts] and the great work it produces,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for [students] to have an outlet for their work.”

Photography junior Esther Lee said she submitted two photographs to Art for Health again this year after selling a piece last year. She said she likes to see how her artwork can help raise awareness in the community and benefit people who can’t afford health care.

“[This event] brings the community together with artists to better know this issue,” Lee said.

As he bought handmade jewelry at the fundraiser on Friday, Ali Hajaig, assistant director of the Clinical Practice and Community Partnership program at ASU, said Art for Health’s merging of art and advocacy was a good way to get the community involved in public health care.

“Lots of people like art,” he said. “People come here and buy [local art], and at the same time, they’re donating. It kills two birds with one stone.”

Reach the reporter at trabens@asu.edu.