![Musicians holding and playing guitar.](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/large_16_9/public/2022-12/betsy_greg_rick2-300-crop.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=uqgqE0h0)
Transforming the Hospital Experience
Arts in Health at Michigan Medicine brings the arts into the environment of care.
Arts in Health at Michigan Medicine brings the arts into the environment of care to help restore hope, encourage personal agency, and honor human dignity.
Gifts of Art's programs aim to transform the hospital experience for patients, guests, faculty, staff, and learners in support of health and wellness.
Gifts of Art serves Michigan by providing innovative services that have the power to change lives, and it serves the world by providing leadership for hospital arts programs everywhere.
![Musicians playing in hospital ward with paper stars hanging from ceiling - black & white](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/2022-11/GOA-BW-Old-Performance-large_1824x1026.jpg?itok=Ksp1O0Wr)
Concert at old Mott hospital
![Old hospital ward with nurse wearing a dress and aqua curtains separating beds](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/2022-11/GOA-Old-U-M-Hospital_large_1824x1026.jpg?itok=MDA_EP35)
Old hospital ward at the University of Michigan Hospital
![Young man and girl smiling and holding up art in hospital room](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/2022-11/GOA-Keri%20big%20smile_large_1824x1026.jpg?itok=Z4klSsM2)
Coloring pages are a popular way for patients and guests to relax and express themselves
![Hospital staff member smiling with mother wearing head scarf with three children and baby in hospital bed](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/2022-11/GOA-hafsa_large_1824x1026.jpg?itok=k9sguE36)
Gifts of Art Bedside Musicians and Artists-in-Residence bring joy and healing to families.
![Dancers performing in front of colorful flower art on brick wall](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/2022-11/GOA-U-M-Dance2-large_1824x1026.jpg?itok=gncevJAd)
Dancers from the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance Freshman Touring Company in front of a changing gallery at the University of Michigan medical center
![Group o fBlack musicians with wooden drums in front of artwork](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/2022-11/GOA-Drum-concert_large_1824x1026.jpg?itok=gzCCE4Zn)
A variety of concerts express the diversity of our hospital community
The 1980s was the beginning of a period of tremendous growth in hospitals. With it came a new awareness that the vast scientific advances in medicine, though groundbreaking, were beginning to overshadow the human and spiritual needs of patients.
Early programs such as Gifts of Art began focusing on retaining personal identity, human dignity, and hope through the inclusion of art and music in public spaces intended for patients, guests, faculty, staff, and learners. As hospital arts programs spread to more hospitals and healthcare organizations, research followed, demonstrating the benefits of arts in health. Services expanded, especially those directly at the bedside of patients, but also to the entire hospital community.
By the early 2000s, many hospitals reported having some sort of arts programming. Most commonly, it was art on the walls. Less common were comprehensive programs such as Gifts of Art with its variety and breadth of available programs and services, and which had been recognized as a model program by the National Endowment of the Arts.
Today the arts are recognized for their importance in supporting human health and well-being across the lifespan by the World Health Organization. In some countries, physicians prescribe visits to museums and art and music lessons for their patients. At Michigan Medicine, we have embraced the arts as part of our culture of care and recognize its benefit to our entire community.