The evidence is clear: The arts don’t merely inspire; they heal. A growing body of research proves that participating in the arts lowers depression and pain, strengthens social connection, and even decreases early mortality risk.
On April 10, the Fine Arts Center hosted more than 300 policymakers, health practitioners, artists, and researchers from across Massachusetts for Art for the Common Good, a statewide convening on arts, health, and wellbeing. The convening marked the beginning of the Fine Arts Center’s expanded focus on arts and wellbeing, and a deeper commitment to integrating the arts into public health conversations.
“We know through research, through practice, and through lived experience that the arts are not only central to education, but they are central to health,” said Jamilla Deria, director of the Fine Arts Center. “In short, arts help make us whole.”
The arts are uniquely multi-modal activities: At once, they are physical, spiritual, cognitive, social, and emotional, making them powerful tools for holistic health and wellbeing.
As UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes put it, “The arts are where we connect, we reflect, and we heal. … Culture is not a luxury; it’s essential infrastructure for healthy people and healthy communities.”
Research underscores the importance of the arts. According to Jill Sonke, a U.S. cultural policy fellow at Stanford University, engaging in arts and cultural activities has been linked to reductions in early mortality risk by as much as 14–31%. Older adults are 20% less likely to experience depression if they engage in creative activities each month. In schools, participating in at least one arts-based activity is associated with 59% higher odds of reporting a strong social support network.
Additional studies show the arts can decrease depression, increase social cohesion, and even reduce markers of biological aging by up to two years. Music has been shown to lower pain levels, and dance has proven to be more effective than conventional exercise as a treatment for Parkinson’s symptoms.
In 2020, Massachusetts’s Mass Cultural Council piloted an arts prescription program, CultureRx, which has since grown into the first statewide system of its kind, creating a community-based structure for care that demonstrates what’s possible when we think more creatively about health and wellbeing.
“Across the country, there is a growing recognition that many of our most pressing challenges — mental health, loneliness, social isolation, food insecurity and community disconnection — are deeply intertwined,” said Congressman Jim McGovern. “We need creative solutions, community based solutions, and that is what these conversations today are going to help us imagine.”
Sonke reinforced this point with evidence from social prescribing programs — healthcare models in which providers prescribe non-clinical services such as arts experiences to improve wellbeing. In Canada, she said, for every $1 invested in arts social prescribing, $4 was returned in economic value.
“We have an imperative to provide access to the arts,” Sonke said, emphasizing that the arts are just as important as exercise for human health.
She described this moment as a “seat belt moment” in which there is a “paradigm shift in which we all start wearing seat beats — we all start counseling, we all start eating better and exercising… I believe that moment is before us in arts and health today.”
During a morning panel discussion, Emmeline Edwards, PhD, emphasized not only the importance of arts on individuals, but the influence artists can have on scientific research into human health.
“As scientists, we are interested in understanding how an art form impacts the brain,” she said. “Working together with an artist, an art practitioner, actually brings the discipline of neuroscience with that knowledge and designs proper intervention.”
Edwards is the director of research for the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, a new interdisciplinary national effort bringing together not only researchers, but artists, practitioners, and others interested in developing accessible arts interventions for mental health.
“There is this idea that the arts are here and sciences are here,” said Jean King, endowed professor of biology and biotechnology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and a member of the NeuroArts Academic Network. “But the artists and scientists are co-creating this world together.”
Throughout the day, nearly thirty researchers, artists, and experts presented on the arts’ role in individual, public, and community health.
Professor of Public Health Education Aline Gubrium emphasized students at the forefront of the UMass Health, Environment, and the Arts Initiative, an interdisciplinary program combining arts-based research with community health and environmental issues to create actionable solutions.
Classical pianist Miki Sawada spoke about her project, the Gather Hear Initiative, which brings classical music to audiences who might not otherwise have access to the art form, including people in prison — “We’re able to go inside and give humanity back,” she said, sharing responses from participants: “I didn’t realize classical music could be a vessel to make me feel such a range of emotions, one wrote.”Another shared, “I was very happy and full of joy with the performance.”
Other panel discussions and lightning talks explored the science behind how arts affect human health, new and emerging policy initiatives, and emerging research. The day also included interactive arts experiences — including a close observation exercise led by the University Museum of Contemporary Art, a dance activity, and a mindfulness and clay workshop.
To close the day, Tasha Golden delivered a talk on the “healing power of curiosity.” A singer-songwriter and behavioral scientist, Golden reflected, “The artist cannot and must not take anything for granted. … When we cultivate this kind of curiosity, we don't just improve how we feel within the world as it is. We change the world. We change what we all expect and demand and create together.”
Golden then invited musician Toshi Reagon onstage for a conversation and performance. Reagon led the room in a bold declaration in song: “I have a right.”
“Everybody saying ‘I’ is such a declaration,” Reagon said.
“What a gift to be someplace, to raise your voice, and the whole congregation is with you,” she added. “When that energy happens, something else is allowed to happen: The audience refuses to be an audience and becomes a congregation that starts to say what can happen in the space.”
For more information and to view the full schedule and list of speakers, please visit umassarts.site/CommonGood