The University of Michigan’s new arts prescription program, ArtsRx, will launch a pilot implementation study to help college students combat loneliness.

ArtsRx brings together a broad coalition of U-M arts and health units, including University Health & Counseling, Wolverine Wellness and the Arts Initiative, alongside the University Musical Society, Museum of Art, Stamps Gallery, and the School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

This is the first study at U-M to examine arts prescribing in the context of college student loneliness. After completion of the Arts and Loneliness in College Students survey by more than 1,400 U-M students during a four-month period of the Winter 2025 semester, it became clear that loneliness required more focus in the subsequent study. The survey identified that over 60% of participants felt a lack of companionship, left out or isolated from others between “some of the time” and “often.”

To recruit participants into the study, UHC staff will administer a loneliness screening to students who have arrived for appointments at UHC. Those who screen positive will be invited to participate and will then be prescribed different arts engagements by a UHC clinician. ArtsRx activities range from hands-on art-making to gallery visits, shows and concerts, wrapped within a “meet-up” framework that brings students together socially.

Participants will complete a post-intervention survey to assess factors that impacted filling of the prescription. The study team hopes the findings can guide and refine the ArtsRx program as it expands into other clinical and nonclinical settings.

Lindsey Mortenson, UHC executive director, chief mental health officer and clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, underscores that there are important differences between loneliness, isolation and solitude—the latter having generally positive connotations.

“Our survey assessed loneliness and isolation, both of which are associated with worse social and occupational outcomes,” she said.

One of the aims of ArtsRx experiences prescribed in the study will be to address the proverbial “alone in a crowded room” experience. In the case of U-M students, there are dozens of social options available and advertised on any given day. The study team wondered about the barriers to both seeking out these experiences and feeling connected to others and less lonely or isolated as a result of those experiences.

“Drawing on insights from our Arts and Loneliness in College Students survey, the campus arts community is being more intentional about serving student needs through the arts,” said Mark Clague, executive director of the U-M Arts Initiative and professor of music. “We had thought that cost and time were the main obstacles to arts participation, but students reported that social isolation was itself a barrier—that they needed to know that other students would be present to encourage their own participation.”

The benefits of the arts on mental and physical health are well documented. For example, according to a 2019 report commissioned by the World Health Organization, exposure to the arts played a role in:

• Reducing loneliness and social isolation by supporting social connection through group activities like craft circles or group singing
• Encouraging health promoting behaviors by using murals, theater and storytelling to communicate health information and reduce stigma around accessing health services
• Improving stress management and prevention by listening to music, creating art and attending cultural events
• Reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression by participating in community arts activities
• Supporting the management of noncommunicable diseases, for example, dancing to reduce blood pressure for individuals with cardiovascular disease

ArtsRx will be used as another tool for clinicians and wellness coaches to incorporate
into an individual’s treatment or action plan, if indicated after evaluation.

Outside of clinical prescription, there is also a self-prescription option for students, faculty, staff and other community members who are interested in exploring ArtsRx on their own or with a wellness coach.

The ArtsRx team is working with campus partners to expand social prescribing efforts in 2026, including the already active NatureRx and bringing in other focus areas like movement and community service.

“Our recent efforts to explore social prescribing have generated novel and creative ideas to reimagine impact and improve lives,” Mortenson said. “It reminds me of an interview Yo-Yo Ma gave several years ago. I came across it at a time when my son, a cello player, was listening to a lot of different cello music.

“Yo-Yo Ma talked about creating music as akin to an ecological phenomenon called the ‘edge effect,’ which is what happens in transition zones where different ecosystems make contact—there is a proliferation of new species and habitats that are unique and might not exist anywhere else in the world. I think about that concept a lot with this work. Such creative ideas and solutions emerge when people from different backgrounds and expertise are open, creative, curious and willing to work and co-create in different ways.”