Culture Prescription: The role of art therapy in cultural spaces and museums as an active health resource

Abstract

This article relates the museum concept to health through a review of its origins, evolution and current inclusive proposals. The study argues that museums can become consolidated as major health assets and that in this context, the presence of art therapy provides an interesting approach as it integrates art and culture with wellbeing and human development in its practice.

Among its benefits, art therapy achieves numerous benefits, including ways of working that bring museum collections closer to groups that are less common in these spaces. In this study you will find some examples where artistic mediation and art therapy have played a relevant role and which can serve as precedents to justify the presence of these professionals in the new museum reality and to bring closer working approaches related to the field of health. In this sense, it is worth mentioning the cultural prescription, which demonstrates the importance of museums as health assets.

In short, museums have the potential to play a key role in promoting wellbeing and health, through inclusive and collaborative initiatives such as art therapy.