WELLBEING BUILT INTO PROGRAMMING
Speaking to CNA’s Singapore Tonight programme, Dr Nisha Sajnani, founding co-director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, said she was struck by how seriously the National Gallery takes wellbeing as part of its mission.
“This isn’t something that’s happening off to the side, but rather really built into their programming,” she said, highlighting the gallery’s partnerships, staff training and culturally grounded community work.
She also noted the gallery’s commitment to evaluating the impact of its initiatives, describing its approach as a combination of “creativity and care and rigour”.
Dr Sajnani said museums are intentionally designed to capture attention and bring people together.
However, their potential for health and wellbeing has often been overlooked, she said, in terms of the content that they curate and how that can “respond to the values, concerns and interests of the communities they serve”.
Beyond their educational role, museums function as anchor institutions much like schools or medical centres, supporting the wellbeing of surrounding communities, said Dr Sajnani.
She also pointed to decades of evidence demonstrating how the arts support neurological, physical, mental and social health.
She cited a 2019 WHO review of over 3,000 studies showing that regular engagement with artistic activities – from music and reading to dance, theatre, visual art and even gardening – is linked to lower stress, healthier behaviours, stronger social connections and reduced risks of anxiety and depression.
Creative arts therapies, including art, drama and music therapy, have shown measurable benefits in areas such as pain management, rehabilitation, maternal wellbeing and chronic illness, she added.