Arts programs play a vital role in the development and maintenance of the mental health of young adults, and cuts in funding for arts programs in elementary through post-secondary education could have an unforeseen and outsize affect on their behavioral health, according to physicians at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC).

The physicians made these observations at "The Arts + Mental Health: The Impact on the Human Spirit," a music-oriented forum held June 2-3 at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York City and presented by the Cornell Council for the Arts.

"It is unbelievably important that we do not lose focus of the role of cultural life in the country," said physician and Cornell President David Skorton, who moderated a panel discussion June 3 that included Dr. Richard Kogan, a psychiatrist, concert pianist and the artistic director of the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Initiative; Dr. Carlyle Harvey Miller, a published poet and associate dean of student affairs and Equal Opportunity Programs at WCMC; Dr. David Shapiro, clinical professor of psychiatry and chairman of the Music and Medicine Initiative at WCMC; and Misheaila Neil, director of performing arts programming at Elmira College in Elmira, N.Y.

The discussion was preceded by a 45-minute solo vocal performance by Grammy Award winner Bobby McFerrin, co-host of the 2009 documentary "The Music Instinct," based on musician-scientist Daniel Levitin's book "This Is Your Brain on Music."

"Music should be always here, now and different," McFerrin said, adding that he believes in the "power of music to transform someone's mental health and physical health."

Historically, the arts and medicine have been deeply intertwined, said Kogan. For example, in Greek mythology, Apollo is the god of medicine and healing as well as music and the arts; similarly, in many tribal cultures, the role of healer or shaman and musician is filled by one tribal elder.

"Music and the arts bind cultures together," said Miller of the way that music creates a shared psychological identity among people.

Although specialization in both the arts and sciences has driven these two fields apart, Kogan said, "there is going to be an explosion in the use of music as a modality for healing."

From the standpoint of student health, Shapiro said that during previous medical college admissions reviews, he noted that one out of every five applicants had some level of experience in music. He developed the Music and Medicine Initiative, he said, to give medical students an outlet to creatively continue their passion for music.

Although the body of scientific research on the interface of artistic expression and healing is limited, Kogan said that cutting back funding for school arts programs is "penny wise and pound foolish." Studies have shown that when arts programs are eliminated, there is an increased use of mental health services.

"All sorts of behavioral and emotional problems follow the loss of arts programs; it has an incalculable impact on mental health," Kogan said.

In the face of increased financial pressure to cut arts programs, Skorton said that "we need better and more concrete arguments why it's important" to maintain them. And the efforts to preserve programs can begin with small steps at the community level.

"Sometimes, especially in higher education, we think about grand solutions to problems as opposed to just putting one foot in front of the other," Skorton said. "We need to not be afraid to start."

Other forum events included poetry of Sylvia Plath and Joanie Mackowski, Cornell assistant professor of creative writing; a performance of Ned Rorem's "Ariel" for voice based on Plath's suicide poems, featuring clarinetist Frank Daykin, pianist Armand Ambrosini and soprano Judith Kellock, Cornell associate professor of music; and a performance of "Musical Genius and Psychiatric Illness" by pianist Kogan.

Gabriel Miller is a freelance writer in New York City.