Did you know, in Massachusetts, healthcare providers can now prescribe arts and cultural experiences to patients as part of their overall treatment plans? This practice, known as social prescribing, is being implemented through a statewide initiative called “CultureRx,” in partnership with Art Pharmacy and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
We could hardly believe what we were hearing at a recent Lehigh Valley Arts and Culture Alliance event, featuring the keynote speaker Michael Bobbit, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The following are excerpts from his transcript:
“We are here because we believe the arts are essential. I believe they are an essential health and human service.”
“Maybe the world—the non-weirdos—don’t always see us as essential. Maybe we’re stuck in our own tragic second act… suffering from problems we helped create.”
“We practice, celebrate, and promote the ‘starving artist’ ideology like it’s a badge of honor. We’re operating in systems built for another century—rewarding scarcity over entrepreneurship, familiarity over innovation. We defend broken business models not because they work, but because they’re familiar. And in times of crisis, we hear: ‘The arts are dying.’
“But I promise you: the arts are NOT dying. We. Are. Molting. Molting is messy. It’s uncomfortable. It makes us vulnerable. But it’s necessary for survival. We must shed the old skin—not because we’ve failed, but because we’re growing. So how do we molt? We stop tweaking. We start reimagining. We stop measuring success by ticket sales and start measuring by community impact, mental health outcomes, and joy-per-minute ratios. Can we be the R&D lab for society’s toughest problems—housing, transporta-tion, joblessness, racism, homophobia, ableism? Can we reimagine our venues as cultural embassies, not just places to see shows?”
“You’re slammed. You’re under-resourced. You’re afraid of risk. But if we don’t get off the hamster wheel of insolvency and do something different, we’ll stay slammed, stay under-resourced, and feed the fear. Make the room.”
“To adapt, we can’t cling to sacred cows. Everything must be reimagined: Season planning that lacks fiscal or programmatic nimbleness. Do the people we want to engage, even know what they’re doing next year? Shift priorities from preserving the past to generating the future. The ‘old masters’ were innovators, entrepreneurs, disruptors, not preservationists. They would be heart-broken to see us training audiences to only engage with revivals. Rethink exclusive, fiscally wacky subscription models. What if patron loyalty looked more like coffee shops, hotels, streaming platforms, or airlines?”
“Let’s reject the myth that artists don’t need business training. Every arts degree should include: Legal, advocacy, budgeting, mar-keting, pricing, negotiation, and policy tracking. The market knows our business literacy. If we don’t equip our artists, we send them into the world at a disadvantage.”
“Let’s rethink government not just as a funder—but as a design partner. Other sectors help write policy. So can we. Let’s embed creativity into legislation about workforce, housing, health, climate. Let’s make advocacy a core operational function, like HR,
finance, and fundraising. Let’s work with our elected officials—and make sure every candidate has an arts platform.”
“Let me pause and say: I’m not asking you to abandon tradition. Reimagining doesn’t mean losing our roots. It means being brave enough to evolve. Take joy. What if we made joy a strategic priority?”
“in Massachusetts, we did. Doctors now prescribe twelve doses of arts and culture to patients—with a companion ticket—covered by insurers, Medicare, Medicaid. We’re embedding arts in healthcare, education, climate action, housing, transportation, and eco-nomic development. Our cultural districts are tackling street safety and job creation. Employers are including arts in their benefits.”
“Our worth isn’t in the systems we inherited… It’s in the impact we create. That’s where our value lives.”
Michael gives many examples of how to infuse art everywhere, in every way. For the full keynote address, email me at janemmachale@gmail.com I hope we can post this on the PCFTA website. Stay tuned friends. I want to hear of your journeys too!
