Graduate students and postdocs are encouraged to join the speaker for lunch after the seminar. To sign up for a spot, please email: pennmindcore@sas.upenn.edu 

Jill Sonke
Research Director and Research Professor
Center for Arts in Medicine
University of Florida

Arts Engagement as a Health Behavior: What is the Evidence?

The arts are increasingly being recognized for their value to health and wellbeing throughout the lifespan and at both the individual and collective levels. Across demographic groups, young people who engage regularly in the arts have higher levels of emotional and social wellbeing, lower rates of substance use and loneliness, and fewer behavioral problems. Older adults who do so are significantly less likely to be depressed and more likely to report good mental health and wellbeing. Despite growing evidence linking the arts to health, social gradients and disparities in who has access to the arts persist, limiting opportunities for better health for those individuals and groups. This presentation will overview measurement approaches and key evidence and in the field of arts in health, and will explore how this evidence is supporting arts in health practice and policy, notably in the growing arena of social prescribing.

A pizza lunch will be served. Please bring your own beverage.

This is a joint seminar with the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics (PCfN).

We will also stream this seminar via Zoom.
For the link, please email: pennmindcore@sas.upenn.edu