GrowLu: Culture-Adapted Art as Public Mental Health Micro-Infrastructure for Community and Civic Engagement

Abstract

Public mental health education remains largely clinic-framed and text-heavy, with few low-barrier, stigma-safe options in everyday civic spaces. GrowLu (a portmanteau of “Grow” and “Golu”) reimagines the Indian Dussehra Golu tiered display as a secular, guided installation using a cultural scaffold as public mental health micro-infrastructure aligned with ICESCR rights to health and cultural participation. Five ascending tiers map Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (physiological needs, safety, belonging, esteem, self-actualization), each using familiar artifacts and a standardized ≤30-word microcopy card format (headline, meaning, reflection prompt, and mechanism-linked next step). The design principle is one object–one idea–one action, inviting visitors to convert brief attention into a voiced micro-commitment. The AAAQ framework guided the design—availability (low-cost, portability), accessibility (free walk-up access, child- and adult-eye-level placement, signposting to crisis support), acceptability (secular, non-pathologizing microcopy), and quality (standardized captions, facilitator training, fidelity checklist, process evaluation). Conceptualized by Augmenta Health, GrowLu debuted at Mental Health Santhe 4.0, hosted by the Department of Mental Health Education, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, India, on October 17 to 18, 2025. Over 2 days, >5,000 visitors attended; 3,151 registered participants. The QR-linked reading guide received ~10.5k scans. Typical dwell time at the exhibit was ~45 to 60 seconds; volunteers invited visitors to name one feasible next step. Reported outcomes are practice-based process indicators (reach, dwell time, QR scans, brief conversations, voiced micro-commitments), not measured behavior change. Culture-adapted, rights-consistent, mechanism-informed micro-exhibits may offer a scalable pathway for stigma-safe engagement with heterogeneous audiences across community and civic settings, including high-footfall events.