Introduction to Creatives Care Dallas
Gig-based and freelance creatives in Dallas County can now enroll in a health and wellness program catered to local artists for $65 a month. Benefits include virtual primary care, 24/7 urgent care and no co-pay prescriptions offered through a mobile app.
The program, called Creatives Care Dallas, was publicly announced at a news conference last week. It is a partnership between the Dallas Music Office and Dallas-based Arete Health Shield that arose out of their shared desire to support local talent.
Arete Health Shield’s CEO, Byron Sanders (left), announces Creatives Care Dallas, a program designed to make preventive health care and mental wellness resources affordable and accessible for Dallas County’s creative community at the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas on Oct. 24, 2025.
Nathan Hunsinger / Special Contributor
The Inspiration Behind Creatives Care Dallas
The 2019 death of Dallas spoken word poet Rage Almighty in particular spurred Arete Health’s CEO Byron Sanders into action.
The poet, born Adam Tench, lacked access to health insurance and used a secondhand inhaler for his asthma, Sanders said. Tench’s death was from very “treatable medical circumstances,” Sanders said. “That struck me as profoundly unfair.”
The new program does not provide comprehensive coverage nor is it intended to replace insurance. Still, for those unable to afford health care or medication, it “gets them a long way,” Sanders said.
Creatives Care Dallas also offers discounts on dental, vision and medical procedures. For specialized care such as dialysis and cancer treatment, the program’s physicians can provide referrals. Members can add up to four other Dallas County residents to their coverage plan who do not need to be dependents or spouses.
How the Program Came to Be
Kristina Kirkenaer-Hart, director of the Dallas Music Office, surveyed artists about their needs early into her tenure and affordable health care emerged as a top concern.
She was keen on finding a solution that would prioritize flexibility for touring artists to have care even as they were away from Dallas and that would ensure prescriptions did not cost “an arm and a leg.”
Arete Health had the infrastructure. The music office knew people in need.
“We don’t want to be exporting our artists to other cities that care more about their creatives,” Kirkenaer-Hart said. “We want them to go away, but we always want them to come home.”
Dallas Music Office director Kristina Kirkenaer-Hart helps announce Creatives Care Dallas, a program designed to make preventive health care and mental wellness resources affordable and accessible for Dallas County’s creative community at the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas on Oct. 24, 2025.
Nathan Hunsinger / Special Contributor
Real-Life Impact
When Cameron McCloud, front man for the local band Cure for Paranoia, aged out of his parents’ insurance, he stopped taking his prescribed antidepressants. “It seemed like the only option at the time,” said the 32-year-old, who has bipolar disorder.
He planned to enroll in Creatives Care Dallas for access to mental health services including therapy and medicine.
