Abstract
This study details the first two years of an initiative using the arts to lead wellness efforts at a large public research university with roughly 50,000 students. Scarlet Arts Rx is a joint initiative of the School of the Arts and the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University-New Brunswick in New Jersey with the aim of using an arts prescription model to positively influence the health and wellness of undergraduate students across campus. Organizers of the program designed hands-on arts experiences for participating students and also offered free tickets to campus arts events, while psychology doctoral students conducted surveys and spoke with participants to measure the extent to which such interventions contributed to an increase in mental health and wellness. I share both qualitative and quantitative data that points to the initiative’s success and offers compelling evidence of the arts as a key driver of health and wellness and as a social determinant of health more broadly. I also share leadership insights from my perspective as the dean of the School of the Arts who launched the initiative and who now serves as chief academic officer for the campus with responsibility for overseeing a larger campus-wide wellness effort. I argue for the centrality and importance of the arts as a tool for addressing societal challenges related to improving health and wellness outcomes, particularly in the realm of mental health.
Presenters
Jason GearyProvost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Provost, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
HEALTH, WELLNESS, ARTS PRESCRIPTION, MENTAL HEALTH
