Museums make us feel better: how art spaces improve wellbeing and connect communities
Have you ever left a museum feeling happier, more relaxed, or more energised? This could be because engaging with cultural objects, from paintings and sculptures to ancient pottery and weapons, within these communal spaces enables you to forget about your daily troubles and connect with people and places in new ways.
Inspired by this idea – and my two decades of experience working in and with museums – I recently led an international research project, on how museums, galleries and heritage sites effected visitor wellbeing. This project, funded by the British Academy, resulted in the publication of my book ‘Heritage and Wellbeing’ which highlighted the benefits of these cultural places to mental health.
What the research shows
Our research, which included over 2000 surveys and interviews with visitors from 9 different sites, has clearly demonstrated that for most people visiting museums and galleries had a measurable and significant effect on their personal and social wellbeing.
This impact came from three main joyful experiences:
- interpersonal experiences, interactions between visitors and staff and opportunities to build connections and trust between people.
- unique aesthetic experiences, the visual stimulation both of the buildings and of the objects and art within.
- presenting storied experience, through emotional and people-based narratives that transport the visitors, connect them to objects, and stimulate their imagination – whilst also facilitating learning.
Cultural spaces provide arenas for you to learn, connect, engage, give and take notice. In essence, they support what has been identified by the New Economics Foundation as the Five Ways to Wellbeing.
Three ways museums and galleries can improve wellbeing
Cultural organisations can still do more to support diverse visitor wellbeing. We worked with colleagues in the sector to come up with guidance to support this, enabling museums and galleries to make a bigger impact on communities.
Our guidance included actions such as
- providing spaces, and indoor and outdoor multisensory, active, performative and creative engagements, experiences and interactions
- providing opportunities for staff, visitors and community members to share expert knowledge and to share familial and community knowledge
- providing space and time for staff, visitors and the community to have conversations, listen, understand and be responsive to physical and mental requirements
The Barber Institute – building a healthier Birmingham
In 2021, the Barber Institute launched its pioneering Barber Health initiative, the gallery wanted to find ways to support the recovery of its local communities, responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. The project included the Barber’s first-ever nurse in residence, community conversations around death and dying, a care-home outreach programme and a social prescribing pilot.
Since this initial launch, Barber Health has developed and become a core part of the gallery’s public programme.
They continue to improve wellbeing in their local communities through:
- Art for Wellbeing workshops – the Barber offers a series of friendly, sociable workshops designed by, with and for adults over 50. It is age and dementia-friendly, and participants can self-refer or be referred by a healthcare professional through social prescribing.
- Teaching with future health professionals, including trainee Doctors and Nurses – the Barber teach at the University of Birmingham and beyond on the positive health effects of arts engagement. They also use their collection to explore difficult topics with trainee healthcare professionals, such as death and dying, and provide placements for students from the College of Medicine and Health.
- Free gallery tours or personalised outreach partnerships for health and community groups – the Barber offers supported creative experiences for charitable and community-led groups and has previously had long-term partnerships with local organisations such as St Andrews Healthcare.
- Staff training – all staff at the Barber have been offered mental health first aider training and dementia-friendly training, enabling them to better support visitors.
- Building improvement project – the Barber is currently closed for works to make the listed building more accessible, enabling more people to experience the positive benefits of visiting.
How can you improve your wellbeing?
Want to feel better and connect with your community? Visit your local museum, join a workshop, or volunteer. You might be surprised by how much joy and meaning that history, art and archaeology can bring you.
About the Author:
Dr Faye Sayer is Director, International Centre for Heritage and Associate Professor in Heritage and History at the University of Birmingham. She is interested in the value cultural heritage has to communities, and how it can or has the potential to impact human and social capital, including wellbeing, mental health and human dignity. Dr Sayer has published extensively on evaluating and measuring wellbeing in a cultural context, including in the Oxford Handbook of Public Heritage Theory and Practice and the textbook Public History: A Practical Guide.
Published 20 August 2025