During a recent community conversation hosted by the Town of Franklin, a Social Prescriptions participant shared how they were previously isolating and not leaving their home. After signing up for the program, though, they began attending arts activities regularly, engaging more in the community over time.
“What struck me most was the courage it took to even share that experience, and then to take those first steps forward in real life,” Cory Shea said. The director of arts, culture, and the creative economy for Franklin continued, “That’s what makes this work meaningful. It’s not just participation—it’s a real shift in quality of life and connection to community.”
Franklin officially launched Social Prescriptions in May 2025, becoming the first municipality in the country to adopt “social prescribing,” a healthcare approach where providers refer patients to arts and culture-based activities to address mental and behavioral health and social isolation. Just over a year later, the program is still going strong there.
For more than a year, the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism has reported on the spending—and in many cases, the lack of spending—of remediation funds that are intended to help curb the ongoing opioid epidemic in Mass. The money comes from companies that played a part in aggressively marketing painkillers while systematically downplaying their addiction risks. Records obtained by BINJ show that of the $113.7 million disbursed to municipalities between 2023 and 2025, cities and towns have collectively spent $19.8 million, or about 17%.
According to public meeting minutes, about $1.7 million of that funding is allocated to Franklin, to be distributed in allotments from 2022 to 2038. At last accounting, Franklin had $400,000-plus in disbursements through Fiscal Year 2025, but had only utilized about 13%. It has pledged to spend it all moving forward, though, with $56,000 committed to this art initiative. The Town Council also allocated funds to SAFE Coalition, a nonprofit that provides mental health and substance use recovery support and resources, and to abatement strategies that municipalities statewide are using remediation funds for, such as treatment and connections to care. However, their investment in the arts charts new territory for opioid remediation dollars.
Through Social Prescriptions, patients participate in activities including dance, museum visits, and concerts to improve mental health, combat isolation and loneliness, and help manage chronic illnesses. People are given 12 total “doses” of social prescriptions, with one “dose” per month.
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Getting people out of isolation
The Mass Cultural Council piloted CultureRx: Social Prescription in 2020, launching in two sites: Springfield and the Berkshires.
“We feel like there’s a lot of opportunity here to positively impact people in Massachusetts to utilize the cultural sector as a nonclinical behavioral health workforce,” said Erik Holmgren, manager of advancement and strategic partnerships at Mass Cultural Council. Throughout the pilot, nearly 2,000 prescriptions were issued.
Social Prescriptions offers a diverse range of activities for patients with varying needs to participate in. Holmgren pointed to a dance program for Parkinson’s patients to help with strength and balance. He also noted the importance of programs that focus on culturally relevant activities so that patients resonate with them more.
“When the Nepalese community was asked, What is culture? They said, Storytelling,” Holmgren said. When the Cambodian community was asked that, they said, Cooking.”
Holmgren cited high adherence rates to Social Prescriptions, with percentages hovering around 76%.
“The impacts of those prescriptions typically begin to really demonstrate themselves after the second or third month, and then go on for 12 months,” Holmgren said. “The hope, especially with social isolation patients, is by getting out into the community and going to these events, it’s getting people out of their homes. It’s opening them up to a lot of other opportunities.”
Furthermore, Holmgren said that Social Prescriptions were viewed positively by stakeholders. “It’s important to think about how to integrate this into medical training and just offer the opportunity to professional care providers,” Holmgren said. “One of the things we were most surprised about was how positive the referring providers viewed this.
“One of them said they felt like they were prescribing beauty.”
Opening an art pharmacy in Mass
To scale Social Prescriptions, Mass Cultural Council partnered with Atlanta-based SocialRx, formerly known as Art Pharmacy, in 2024. SocialRx works with health systems, community clinics, and healthcare partners so healthcare providers can prescribe arts and culture to patients.
Franklin is a city of about 34,000 people located about 40 miles outside of Boston. It is not quite a large city, but not a small town either. (It is legally a city but operates as the “Town of Franklin” and has a Town Council.)
According to Jamie Hellen, the town administrator of Franklin, the community has a bustling arts scene, with the Black Box Theater putting on productions, murals adorning walls, seasonal festivals, and more.
Franklin was also hit hard by the opioid epidemic. From 2015 to 2022, the city reported 37 opioid-related overdose deaths.
“You go to that funeral, and you’re never the same person again. And as a leader like me in a community, it hits you hard,” Hellen said. “It’s sad and you see firsthand in front of you how hard it is on families and neighborhoods.”
With the opioid settlement money, Franklin dedicated more than $50,000 to Social Prescriptions.
“There isn’t a single path to healing, and part of my responsibility is to help create access points that might resonate with different people,” Shea said. “That’s where art comes in. Creativity, meditative activities, and hands-on making experiences offer something universal—everyone benefits from having a moment to slow down, connect, and create.”
A city where art matters
Shea is focusing on shifting the perception of arts as a “nice to have” to a community need. Oftentimes, arts programs are the first to lose funding, whether due to city budget or school-specific cuts.
“Being part of this program reflects the respect Franklin’s leadership has for artists and for creative pathways as a meaningful part of community wellbeing,” Franklin’s director of arts, culture, and the creative economy said. “It signals that this isn’t an ‘extra’ or an add-on—it’s something we value as part of how a healthy community functions.”
Hellen added that as part of Franklin’s budget process every year, they’re continuing to make the argument that arts and culture shouldn’t be instinctively cut.
“I think part of the biggest impact is just simply our community knows that their other citizens, their government, and other individuals in the community like the Safe Coalition, we’re there for them and one of the most successful parts of this community and this program is leading with empathy and compassion and leading with community,” Hellen said.
According to Shea, the next phase of the SocialRx initiative in Franklin will focus on expanding access, strengthening partnerships, and building long-term sustainability.
“The goal is continued integration of arts and culture into everyday community life,” she said. “We’re building something really special in Franklin, and this next phase is about deepening that foundation and expanding its reach.”
Hellen echoed that vision of support. “To be in a community that knows that we’re there for you is something that’s also healing to people. We’re not giving up on those folks in the community that are struggling.”
“We want to create a fabric in the community that allows people to be where they’re at,” he added. “Where their loved ones are at, where their families and friends are at.”
