When it comes to research, many people would assume it focuses on STEM topics such as engineering, computer science, chemistry or biology. However, science is expanding its horizons and has become more inclusive, especially with the arts. Research shows significant results in collaborations between arts in the medical and research fields. It is a field that is growing and becoming prominent in many patients’ and providers’ lives.
Arts-in-Health Innovation Lab
The Arts-in-Health Innovation Lab is located at the University of Utah. As described on their website, the lab is a “catalyst of interdisciplinary research, teaching, clinical care, and community engagement at the intersection of the arts and health.”
The main goal of the lab is to help those in need feel complete with their physical, mental and social health. The lab also focuses on providers, assisting them in learning and helping in public settings such as schools, hospitals and clinics.
I had the honor of speaking to Becky Zarate, the U’s newest associate dean for research in the College of Fine Arts. Zarate also oversees the Arts in Health Initiatives and the AiH Innovation Lab and is also a licensed creative arts therapist, music therapist and vocal psychotherapist.
“It’s a place for interested researchers cross the university, staff, students and faculty to incubate ideas for projects that will have a high impact on public health,” explained Zarate. “For example, AI, bioscience, creative arts therapies science and gaming science can all come together in think tanks to help support recovery from a serious brain injury.”
Arts-in-Health Innovation Lab projects are all quite unique from one another. Each has had its own amazing outcomes. One experiment, called Animation-based Depression Evaluation, was a collaboration with the nursing, film & media arts, special education and psychiatric clinician departments. It worked to help assess depressive symptoms through animation health measures.
Another extraordinary experiment is Choreografish, a collaboration with the U’s dance program, Division of Games and Department of Family and Consumer Studies. The project was made to help patients on the autism spectrum create choreography on swim patterns of virtual fish. It helped researchers understand the pattern of impulses from people on the spectrum along with cognitive and motor processes. It also assisted with understanding the emotional effects of the moving stimuli.
The Future of Healthcare is the Arts
There is no limit when it comes to healthcare and the arts. Combining the two fields expands the holistic perspective on health.
“It focuses on the science of improvement of health, and sustained wellness that is driven by the integral processes of arts within those contexts,” said Zarate. Health is not subjected to one individual, it involves everyone who is seeking to improve and understand their well-being.
With a new academic year starting there are new ideas, projects and programs in the Arts-in-Healthcare Innovation lab.
“One of the important components of what we do in Arts-in-Health is directly connected to public health and community engagement,” added Zarate. “World Mental Health Day is coming up on Oct. 10. In collaboration with one of our University Neighborhood Partner Programs, Hartland, [and] our associate dean for community engagement, Kelby McIntyre-Martinez, we are launching a community engagement and mental health wellness program that will use community-based arts and arts therapies in group contexts.”
Science is an ever-changing field with new discoveries and ideas, but so is the arts. There is room for the arts in healthcare along with their innovative ideas and projects.
“This is a really exciting and important time for the arts in health,” said Zarate. “There have been crucial recent advances in creative arts therapies science, Curriculum of National Organization for Arts and Health and initiatives of the World Health Organization on the importance of arts in health. We will continue with our research within CFA and across the university through our interdisciplinary projects that impact public health.”
The Arts-in-Healthcare Innovation Lab not only strives to impact the lives of patients in healthcare but also self-driven students who want to join this change. If you are interested in dipping your toes in the arts and healthcare world, you can check out the Arts in Healthcare Innovation Lab website at artsinhealth.utah.edu or by personally reaching out to Zarate by email at [email protected] about current projects or available internships.
