ANN ARBOR, MI — Michigan Medicine and the University of Michigan Arts Initiative have teamed up to launch Michigan ArtsRx, a new clinical arts initiative to assist the mental health of students, UM affiliates and Ann Arbor residents through arts programming.
Mark Clague, executive director of the UM Arts Initiative, said ArtsRx will invite the community to “participate in artmaking” and health professionals will be able to “recommend arts participation as a non-clinical supplement to other health interventions that members of our community are doing.”
The initiative will have two offerings: a pilot study where health professionals prescribe arts programming to UM students, and a self-prescription service where the larger university and Ann Arbor community can participate in arts events for their well-being through the ArtsRx newsletter.
Clague said his team launched the program because he wanted to make it easier for the larger university community to access resources across departments, given the university’s size.
“One of the things the arts initiative is trying to do is find opportunities within a very large, decentralized university to make connections across our ecosystem in order to bring new possibilities to life,” Clague said. “The arts-prescribing program unifies our medical system with our arts ecosystem, which is, I would say, a place where there’s been activity before.”
Clague said he is excited to see UM clinical and arts teams collaborating on ArtsRx because the initiative will build a “collaborative structure to support this work” and raise awareness of the need for arts programming and its benefits on mental health.
Clague and Tessa Brinza, program manager and arts and health coordinator for the UM Arts Initiative, said there is growing evidence from the United Kingdom that arts participation benefits students’ social connections, mental health and physical health.
Brinza said, according to a study conducted by University Health & Counseling and Wolverine Wellness with 1400 UM students, that 70% of students “either often or some of the time felt lonely.”
She also said, according to the survey, 64% of students would be more likely to attend an arts program if a health professional recommended it.
Clague said the process of forming ArtsRx was “surprisingly easy” because the team is collaborating with two existing infrastructures.
“It’s really about making a connection between two things that people usually have separated in their mind,” Clague said.
Brinza said the ArtsRx team has been “really supportive” at building momentum for the program.
Looking into the future, Clague said he hopes the program will grow “into a larger, more comprehensive effort on campus.” He said he wants ArtsRx to serve as a mental health and wellness model to other colleges and universities around the world.
“We see the arts and emphasizing the social benefits of the arts as a way to really provide a different pathway for a healthy community,” Clague said.
Brinza said the initiative is a part of an “international movement” towards “using the different areas of arts and culture and movement and service” to promote better health.
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