Earlier this month, the World Health Organization’s Europe office released a report that links art experiences to improved physical and mental health.
Art promotes good health, prevents a range of mental and physical health conditions, and can help treat and/or manage acute and chronic conditions that occur throughout life, the report states.
At The Hyde, we often promote the benefits of art experiences. It’s more than just trying to increase our attendance numbers. To us, it’s part of Mrs. Hyde’s founding mission for the Museum: to enrich the lives of people in our community. We see daily how creating art, looking at art, learning about art, even reading or writing about art, improves lives.
We offer free children’s programs weekly because we know that creating art helps children develop motor skills, and improves reasoning and problem-solving. But it also helps them learn to express themselves, to better understand other people, and to value experiences and cultures different from their own. It makes them more compassionate and gives them a creative outlet for feelings that seem too much to handle.
We offer free admission regularly to make sure everyone who wants access to art has it here at The Hyde. And, when we do have to charge for adult programs, we keep the cost as low as we can because we believe strongly — and many of us have experienced first-hand — that art has mental and physical health benefits for adults, too.
According to the WHO report, the arts:
- reduce social inequalities
- support child development (including mother-infant bonding, and supporting speech and language acquisition)
- encourage healthy living
- prevent ill health
- support caregiving
- support recovery from mental health ailments, including overcoming trauma and abuse
- improve outcome of care in hospital patients and people in intensive-care units
- help people with neurological disorders, including autism, cerebral palsy, stroke, degenerative neurological disorders, and dementias)
- assist in treatment of noncommunicable diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and lung and cardiovascular disease
- support end-of-life care, including palliative and bereavement
So, visit The Hyde Collection — or any museum or gallery — today. It’s good for your health.
