Performing artists are athletes. Just like sport athletes they: practice or perform almost every day, play through pain, compete in challenging environments, experience little “off season”, face extreme competition, face the risk of mental burnout and physical overuse, and face real risk of career-threatening injury. Yet, performing artists rarely have access to the injury prevention, nutrition, and practice and competition guidelines afforded most sport athletes, even at the youth level. Performing artists (musicians, dancers, singers, conductors, actors, marching band members, etc., of all ages) and their instructors need this information, along with education and research associated with unique performance-related problems. While there is a large and growing source of sport athlete injury type, mechanism, and prevalence data resulting in specific processes, policies and rules enacted to minimize injury risk, only small pockets of such information exist in the performing arts world. From some of the limited information that has been published: Orchestra — up to 88.6% of orchestral musicians reported pain during the previous year and an average of 84.2% of orchestral musicians indicated pain interfering with playing during their lifetime (1); Orchestra — 75% of orchestra instrumentalists will develop at least one musculoskeletal disorder from playing during their lifetimes (2); Band — 64% of a World Class Drum Corps reported Stress Fractures in 2013 (unpublished). Music, Voice — 67% of school-aged musicians (3), 70.6% of undergraduate students, 64.4% of graduate students, and 54.9% of professors (4) reported playing or singing-related pain; Music — 50% of undergraduate music majors reporting pain while playing sought assistance from their music teacher, 30% reported that they did not consult anyone, and only 11% reported going to a medical professional (4); Music — 45% of student musicians have Noise–Induced Hearing Loss compared to 11.5% in the general population (5); Dance — 67% to 95% of pro ballet and modern dancers suffer injuries annually (two to seven injuries per dancer) (6,7); Music — top chronic diagnoses from New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic (NOMC): Hypertension, Depression and Diabetes. A total of 67% of NOMC patients did not have a regular health provider (unpublished). These limited data highlight a real concern about the health and safety risks of these populations and underscore both the need and opportunity for medical personnel to make a real difference in the lives of performing artists. Sports medicine health professionals can be a valuable resource for filling this gap by applying their existing knowledge of treating sport athletes while gaining a better understanding of the performer's unique needs and environment. In response to this need, Athletes and the Arts (AATA) was formed in 2013 as a multi-organizational initiative (including the American College of Sports Medicine) recognizing that athletes exist throughout the performing arts community and that established performance, wellness, and injury prevention research for sport athletes also is applicable to performing artists (www.athletesandthearts.com). AATA further aims to assist sports medicine professionals in better understanding the needs of the performing arts population and assists medical professionals in expanding their impact to a new patient base that desperately needs support. One of the founding AATA members, the Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA), has been dedicated to these issues since 1989 (www.artsmed.org). As an ongoing effort to better educate the medical community about performing artists, PAMA has developed two seminal programs that should be of interest to the readership of Current Sports Medicine Reports and are presented in this issue. Dr. Bronwen Ackerman and Dr. Clay Miller began the initial development of this program through workshops in music and dance presented at the PAMA Annual Symposiums. The course had two parts with the first as didactic core knowledge and the second part as the hands-on physical examination. The course continued to develop with the help of numerous PAMA members who are experts in the field of arts medicine to include vocalists and actors. The first article highlights a joint PAMA-ACSM effort to create a Performing Arts Medicine Certificate of Completion. The Essentials of Performing Arts Medicine is a multidisciplinary continuing professional development course designed to meet the professional interests and career goals of clinicians as well as developing components targeting performing arts educators and performing artists. The course addresses specific opportunities and techniques for education, assessment, prevention, and treatment in response to various arts-specific health concerns. The second article involves a Preparticipation Screening for Performing Artists. Preparticipation medical screening of sport athletes has become mandatory at many levels; consensus preparticipation physical examinations have been developed by five sports medicine organizations. More recently, baseline concussion testing has been added to this package. However, performing artists often have active and long annual schedules and injury risks at least comparable to sports athletes. Unlike sport athletes, performing artists are not usually screened annually prior to active participation, and validated evaluation tools for this population do not exist. “You play in a bar room, people are smoking, there are long hours, practicing, you carry equipment to your gig. The idea of all of this (health needs) is foreign to the music community, from the conservatory level to the level of street performers and everything in between.” “I believe music is healing and if you want to heal other people, you’ve got to heal yourself first. The healthier we are as musicians and the arts community in general, dancers and actors, the better the world will be.” — Jon Batiste: Jazz Musician, Artist in Residence–Athletes and the Arts The Dancer, Instrumentalist, Vocalist, and Actor (DIVA) screening tool has been developed via Bronwen Ackerman, Clay Miller, and additional PAMA members and authors of these articles to fill that void. The DIVA represents a current best-practice approach and includes a selection of the most reliable and clinically relevant tools that fit with the pragmatic goal of the test being administered in one sitting. The tool is designed for all performing artists (dancers, instrumentalists, vocalists, and actors) and is divided so that relevant sections can be used at the discretion of the health professional. The authors also developed written examinations for the various disciplines, which are required for participants to obtain the Certificate of Completion. To accommodate COVID restrictions and to expand access to the course worldwide, the course was eventually made available online, with the help of PAMA members and support staff. For more information contact Bronwen Ackermann at [email protected] or Julie Massaro at [email protected]. Performing artists are an underserved population with respect to medical coverage, care, injury prevention, and wellness. These two articles provide an opportunity to better understand the needs of this population and may help you to apply your skills accordingly.