For students seeking ways to get involved, having the opportunity to access different forms of the arts is the next step in getting to know the community. Bobcat ArtsCare aims to give students free, easy access to creative opportunities that support one’s mental health and well-being.
Bobcat ArtsCare is a program open to students of all majors and artistic experience.
Some of the opportunities the program includes are visual, performing, literary and outdoor experiences on campus. Through those connections, the goal is to reduce stress, create connections among students and support overall mental health.
Sara Schoenhoft, assistant director for fitness and well-being at Ping Recreation Center, shares the mission of Bobcat ArtsCare.
“Bobcat ArtsCare is basically connecting students with arts experiences both on campus and in the community, and the goal is to improve their overall mental health and well-being,” Schoenhoft said. “To stimulate creativity, to allow them to have social connections, to serve as stress management and do that specifically through the arts.”
Bobcat Artscare started in the summer of 2024 by co-creator Sharon Boyle, an associate professor of music therapy. She brought the idea of arts prescription to campus recreation.
“I had kind of explored and looked at the idea of arts prescription, which is something that allows people to be connected basically to arts experience and events for purposes of health behavior, preventive care and things like that,” Boyle said. “So we kind of took that idea, I brought it to the well-being and recreation folks and we started developing it.”
Boyle said the program isn’t officially arts prescription due to not having clinicians making referrals, though it is based on the same framework: connecting arts with mental well-being.
One of the main opportunities the Bobcat ArtsCare offers is one-on-one coaching that gives students a more personalized experience in the program. ArtsCare coaches provide a plan that recognizes students’ needs in relation to artistic outlets. Coaches also help plan event attendance, finding locations and times that will help students access experiences.
Kayla Boswelo, a senior studying English creative writing and dance, serves as Bobcat ArtsCare’s student supervisor. Boswelo oversees the ArtsCare coaches, creates weekly programming and conducts community outreach.
“A student will refer themselves to the program and they’ll get matched with a coach, and they will meet and discuss their well-being needs,” Boswelo said. “Our coaches will take that and figure out, based on those specific needs, what artistic experiences would match those specific needs.”
She said coaches find ways to give students a creative outlet through a more personalized experience. Additionally, ArtsCare coaches provide support for students at program events.
“The coaches that they may meet with will be at the event,” Boyle said. “Maybe if they need to be a little brave, it gives them the opportunity to be like, ‘OK, I’m going to go to this event, I don’t know anybody, but I do know the ArtsCare coach who I’ve met with,’ and I think that’s really helpful.”
To get connected, the self-referral form connects students with coaches. By knowing there will be a familiar face at events through coaching, students have the extra support to try something new. The program aims to decrease loneliness and limit barriers in place for students to get more involved on campus.
Bobcat Artscare offers a variety of events on campus. Thrive Mobile is on campus from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Monday, where two coaches drive a golf cart and give people rides to class while sharing what the program is.
On Wednesdays from 4-6 p.m. in the WellBeing Wing in Ping Recreation Center, located at 82 S. Green Dr., the program covers a different craft activity. Fridays 12-2 p.m., coaches have a table in front of Baker University Center, 1 Park Place, with information and merch to give out.
In March, the program will be hosting a two-day arts celebration in collaboration with various creative campus and community departments. The event will feature multiple disciplines for students to have access to all at once.
The program also hosts a bigger event every month that features a workshop or class of different art experiences. The next gathering will be held on Oct. 13 outside of Ping. It will be a larger-scale program where students can paint records.
The program aims to share that there are many different facets of art available outside of typical drawing and painting. Bobcat Artscare aims to give students access to all kinds of different art forms, and to continue using arts as a way to improve mental well-being.
“It really can be an independent experience, but it can also be a communal experience,” Boswelo said. “I think that’s what I love so much about Bobcat ArtsCare, and just really spreading the love for the arts on campus and for those who may not have thought it was accessible to them before.”
