Bobcat ArtsCare connects students with creative outlets, artistic community

It’s no secret that exposure to the arts is beneficial to mental well-being. The challenge for college students is finding avenues and access to explore their artistic creativity, especially when their major falls outside the Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts.

The Bobcat ArtsCare program was recently established to provide students with those outlets and to fight the misconception that a student must be an arts major to engage in creativity.

The founding of Bobcat ArtsCare was a collaborative effort, spanning Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts (Arts in Health), Well-Being and Recreation, Counseling and Psychological Services, and a community health worker.

The Bobcat ArtsCare Advisory Group that helps to support the program is chaired by Dr. Sharon R. Boyle, an associate professor of music therapy and director of the Arts in Health program. Boyle had the idea for the program as a member of the committee that started after OHIO received a mental health grant from the state. Boyle began co-creating Bobcat ArtsCare with Well-Being & Recreation in late spring 2024.

Boyle introduced the grant committee to the concept of “arts prescription,” which seeks to provide access to the non-medical arts and creative community-building as prescribed by healthcare providers. Not long after these discussions, Boyle met with the Well-Being and Recreation team to combine forces.  

“For our department, our mission is to be a catalyst for well-being that is accessible to all, and we want to be able to do that through whatever avenue that can be,” Wes Bonadio, the director of Well-Being and Recreation, said. “It does not have to be through physical activity, recreation and sports. (Bobcat ArtsCare) gave us a really exciting opportunity to expand our offerings and reach an audience that we weren't reaching before, where we could then start to elevate the arts in all shapes and sizes across campus.”

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Boyle and the Well-Being and Recreation team decided to combine the pre-existing Well-Being Coaching with arts outreach and the result was Bobcat ArtsCare Coaching, a self-referral program where students meet with peer coaches to find an artistic solution to their needs.

“Students could have different needs, like just needing stress reduction, or maybe they're needing to connect with people because they're feeling isolated or lonely, or maybe they're just trying to feel creative,” Boyle said.

Kayla Boswell, a junior studying English creative writing, was a member of the first cohort of Bobcat ArtsCare Coaches (BACs) in the fall of 2024. By the end of the school year, she had been promoted to student supervisor.

“My time as a BAC was really enlightening for me,” Boswell said. “I think I found a new niche with coaching people in that way, because I've always loved the arts. I've always felt really connected to them and they've done a lot for me, so being able to use the arts and arts experiences to help people enhance their well-being is really unique.” 

In her new role, Boswell hires and trains coaches, manages outreach and organizes programming events. These responsibilities allow her to have a hand in all three pillars of Bobcat ArtsCare: Education, ArtsCare Coaching and Programming.

The Education pillar aims to reduce stigma about engaging in the arts and brings local artistic outlets to students’ attention. The ArtsCare Coaching pillar grants students a one-on-one connection with someone who cares about finding them the resources they need.

“We already know, based on past feedback and assessments that we've done from our Well-Being Coaches, that the connection that students have with their coach is incredibly valuable,” Bonadio said.

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The Programming pillar gives students a chance to participate in community-oriented events, such as a rock painting night during the fall semester or the new dance series and creative writing workshop offered this spring.

“We're the ones who are activating the experience when it comes to programmatic event happenings, like the activities that students can get involved with or helping them navigate the different resources through our coaches,” Bonadio said about his department’s role. “We serve more as the activator and more of the programmatic provider.”

A combination of all three pillars comes in the form of partnerships to connect students to existing arts offerings across the university. Last semester, Boyle developed a partnership with Tantrum Theater who gifted a limited number of tickets to the program so BACs could offer students accessible arts activities that fit their needs.

“The idea is not just to get a free ticket to go to an event,” Boyle said. “That's great, we want to give people access to that, but it's also about helping them develop consistent arts-based behavior so that they can feel the impact of that over time.”

Looking to the future of the burgeoning program, Boyle hopes to increase these partnerships across the community and the University; the Athena Cinema has already joined the ranks this semester. Boswell’s hopes for the future are geared toward student participation.

“I really hope to see more consistency with clients continuing to come back,” she said. “That's something we run into, they'll come to the first session, and then things get busy and it feels like too much work. That's also what we're trying to decrease the idea of, that getting involved is too much work, because it doesn't have to be big.”

According to Bonadio, the smallest engagement in Bobcat ArtsCare can cause long-term behavior changes, which is the central mission of the program.

“Being artistic is a very human thing,” Boswell said. “I think this program really builds off of that, and we just want people to be able to better themselves through incorporating art into their lifestyle.”

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