What would happen if engaging with art were officially recognized as a health-promoting behavior? This is the question posed by an international symposium within the framework of the Healing Arts Week New York, which explores the relationship between art and health for a week in September.
International studies demonstrate that engaging with art is just as beneficial to health as engaging in artistic and creative activities. Those affected report experiencing positive emotional and cognitive experiences, improving their verbal and nonverbal communication, and boosting their self-esteem. Enjoying art or engaging in artistic and creative activities in a group, such as during guided tours or workshops, helps reduce isolation and build community. This can alleviate depression, for example, or slow the progression of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. This is why more and more museums are offering workshops and tours for people with dementia. This is also the case here in Austria.
Museum visits on prescription: this is how an experiment began in Great Britain over ten years ago, and is now being replicated around the world – from Canada to Belgium to France, as recently reported by the daily newspaper Der Standard. Doctors are prescribing free museum visits to combat stress, depression, and other mental illnesses. While such developments are still met with controversy in this country, important pioneers such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York testify to the importance of these offerings. The MET was also the very first host of the Healing Arts Symposium in 2021 and regularly offers educational formats for people with dementia.
Back to this year's Healing Arts Week. The annual symposium and festival is taking place this year as a side event to the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. The extensive program offers the opportunity to participate in performances, dance, theater, art workshops, and other community events with artists scattered throughout Manhattan. The all-day symposium, co-hosted by the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at the renowned New York University, serves as a scholarly exploration of the topic.
Behind Healing Arts Week New York is a network of researchers and practitioners, led by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, the Steinhardt School with its Arts & Health @ NYU initiative, and the WHO. The latter has also long been tracking the impact of arts and culture on our physical, mental, and social well-being.
If you are interested in more information about the topic and the concentrated expertise, you can click through these links: