The Research Lab at UCLA will develop a reliable, valid, flexible, and scalable Arts Impact Measurement System (AIMS), an assessment tool for integration with mobile devices. Using psychometrics, AIMS will measure self-reported health and well-being outcomes associated with arts participation. The assessment tool will be pilot-tested in partnership with Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz (in public-school outreach programs) and on campus arts-engagement experiences to promote well-being among students, staff, and faculty—in partnership with the Semel Mindful Music program. The researchers intend to make the tool freely available to the international arts community, and will facilitate public release of the data, after safeguarding for confidentiality and privacy protections. This project lays the groundwork for greater translational research focused on understanding the fundamental cognitive and biological mechanisms by which the arts affect well-being.

The research agenda aims to address the following research questions:

• What are the social, emotional, physical, and/or physiological health benefits of participating in the arts for individuals, groups, or societies?
• What physiological or psychological mechanisms or group dynamics are at work in achieving those benefits or related outcomes?