The Power of Arts in Whole-Person Health: Social Prescribing in Massachusetts

For most of my career, I've had the privilege of witnessing how the arts can impact individual health and well-being. Now, as part of a business that has the purpose of integrating arts into our healthcare system, I see the promise of the role that arts, culture, and creativity can play in helping healthcare providers and their patients move closer to whole person health.

Chris Appleton, CEO, Art Pharmacy

This vision has recently taken a big step forward as Art Pharmacy expands into Massachusetts, partnering with Mass General Brigham to bring arts-based social prescribing to a new community. This marks an exciting chapter for us, where art becomes a vital part of healthcare delivery, not just an afterthought. I’d like to lift up the Visual Arts in Healthcare Program at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in being critical in this milestone.

At its core, social prescribing allows healthcare providers to refer patients to non-clinical services – activities that can improve their overall well-being. These activities range from gardening to food, and, in our case, to the arts. Versions of this have existed for centuries. Formally, social prescribing began in the UK in the early 1990s.

Art Pharmacy was built on the premise that creativity is a potent force for healing. Decades of research from institutions like Johns Hopkins Arts & Mind Lab, University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine, and the World Health Organization have made clear that arts engagement – whether that be Dance for Parkinsons or mask-making for PTSD – can improve clinical outcomes for patients, not to mention a range of non-clinical benefits for patients and the healthcare system.

Art-based social prescribing taps into the healing potential of creativity by introducing patients to arts activities that promote mindfulness, emotional expression, and community connection. We work with healthcare providers to “prescribe” visual arts, music, and creative writing classes, among other offerings, as a means to support whole-person health.

This approach aligns well with the growing recognition that health is more than just the absence of disease; it’s about emotional resilience, social connectivity, and mental well-being – qualities that the arts are known to nurture.

When Mass Cultural Council invested in Art Pharmacy to bring our model to the Commonwealth, Mass General Brigham was at the top of our list for early partners. We believed the health system’s commitment to patient-centered care and history of innovation were a strong fit to be an early adopter of arts prescriptions. In fact, many affiliated physicians and researchers were already integrating the arts into their practice. Our partnership with MGB is focused on hypertension patients in the United Against Racism program. Providers from MGB-affiliated clinics write patients a prescription for twelve doses of arts & culture and call that prescription into Art Pharmacy. A care navigator on the Art Pharmacy team works with that patient to identify and select the highest efficacy activity for that individual. We then provide the patient access to the program (i.e. ceramics class, theater performance, painting workshop) and track their progress each step of the way. In addition to our partnership with MGB, we have over 400 arts and culture organizations, from all corners of Massachusetts, in our network. These organizations provide the “medicine” to patients referred to us by their healthcare provider.

I often get asked what brought me to the work of integrating the arts into the healthcare system. Since the dawn of civilization, humans have turned to creative expression in times of joy, sorrow, confusion, and clarity. From cave paintings to symphonies, art has always been a way for us to make sense of the world, and our place in it.

In the modern context, the arts offer a safe space for self-reflection and expression, especially for those grappling with illness, both physical and mental. For patients dealing with chronic disease, the arts can provide an emotional outlet and sense of control in situations where they often feel powerless.

As we expand into Massachusetts, I’m filled with optimism about the future of arts in healthcare. The partnership with Mass General Brigham is just the beginning, and I believe that the field is on the cusp of a broader movement that will see the arts, culture, and creativity play a meaningful role in preventing and treating disease. The arts have the power to transform lives, and we’re thrilled to be part of the movement towards whole-person health.

Chris Appleton
Founder & CEO, Art Pharmacy

For additional information about Social Prescribing, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Center for Arts in Medicine, University of Florida, have co-written Arts on Prescription: A Field Guild for US Communities. (Blog images courtesy of this report).