Take Art Twice a Day: When Creativity Is the Prescription
Across the world, a growing movement is rethinking how we care for mental and emotional health. It’s called social prescribing, and at its core is a simple idea: that community, creativity, movement, and connection play a meaningful role in how we feel and how we heal.
For Bellforge, this way of thinking feels familiar. The values behind social prescribing align closely with how people experience time here: outdoors, together, engaged in music, art, and shared moments that invite presence rather than pressure.
Social prescribing began in the United Kingdom and has since been adopted in more than a dozen countries. The approach allows health care providers to refer patients to nonclinical, community-based experiences such as cultural events, music-making, gardening, or time in nature. Rather than focusing solely on symptoms, social prescribing looks at the whole person and the context of their daily life, including stress, loneliness, and social disconnection.
Research increasingly supports what many people already sense. Creative and cultural engagement can reduce stress, ease feelings of isolation, and support mental health. The changes are often subtle but real. A calmer nervous system. A sense of connection. A feeling that something has settled. We’ve explored this more deeply in our earlier post, Why the Arts Matter to Our Well-Being, which reflects on how time with the arts can positively shape both mental and physical health.
Photo: Ash & Eric opening for Livingston Taylor at Bellforge Arts Center in 2022.
In 2024, Massachusetts took an important step forward with the launch of a first-of-its-kind statewide social prescribing initiative, developed through a partnership between the Massachusetts Cultural Council and SocialRx (formerly Art Pharmacy). Through SocialRx, arts and culture are now formally integrated into health care, creating pathways for clinicians to connect patients directly with creative and cultural experiences in their communities.
Bellforge is an active part of this work. As a participating SocialRx organization, Bellforge welcomes individuals who are referred through the program alongside those who discover on their own. Someone might arrive for an outdoor concert, a family-friendly day on the lawn, or a seasonal gathering that encourages listening, wandering, easy conversation with new faces, and shared attention. What they find is space to engage without expectation.
Through SocialRx, health care providers can offer patients “prescriptions” for activities like art or music classes, museum visits, and time in nature, along with support to help reduce barriers to participation. The goal isn’t treatment in the traditional sense. It’s access to programs or events that invite expression, connection, and a sense of ease.
This is where the alignment with Bellforge feels especially clear. Much of what we offer already lives in this space: live outdoor music, gatherings that welcome people back again and again, and opportunities to spend time on the grounds at their own pace. These experiences don’t promise outcomes. They offer conditions: to listen, to move, to be around others.
Photo: A young family enjoying Bellforge’s FieldFest: Fall Music Showcase
As Bellforge continues to grow, we’re grateful to be part of a broader shift that recognizes creativity and connection as meaningful components of care. Whether someone arrives through a SocialRx referral or comes out of curiosity, the invitation is the same: spend time here, be present, and see what unfolds. Because some of the most meaningful forms of care arrive in simple ways. A song heard live. A walk taken slowly. A shared moment that reminds us we’re not alone.
If you feel called to experience it for yourself, we’d love to welcome you. Step onto the grounds and discover what happens when art, nature, and community share the same space. And if you’d like to stay close to what’s emerging here – our upcoming events, new offerings, and the next stages of growth – be sure to sign up for our newsletter.