What is Museotherapy?
Good question—it’s another name for museum-based art therapy, or use of the museum space for therapeutic purposes. But, let me dive in with some links:
Here’s a link to an article from the Montreal Museum of Art where you can read about museotherapy, their programs, and ways to get involved. Le Monastère des Augustines has a temporary exhibition up called Re-Connect that is inspired by museotherapy and even has a youtube playlist where you can learn more about therapy in the museum space. Una Meistere wrote an article on museotherapy and its ability to be prescribed. If you have access, this article by Josko-Ochojska et al. is a wonderful resource. These, of course, are not all encompassing, but they are a lovely place to start.
And part of the abstract from my thesis:
Many museums have reframed and expanded their role as buildings that conserve artworks to also be utilized as active, wellness-based spaces for social connection. Art therapy in museums began to enter the research literature in the early 2000s (Saunders & Saunders, 2000; Linesch, 2004; Treadon et al., 2006; Silverman, 2009; Salom, 2011). Today, many museums provide safe, creative, collaborative spaces for their surrounding communities (Small, 2020). Museotherapy, the use of the museum environment as a therapeutic method for the purposes of physical, psychological, and social well-being (Bondil & Legari, 2022), is a growing field with ever expanding models and research (Ioannides, 2016, 2022).
Treadon (2016, 2022) found there are several ways museums are a naturally good fit for art therapy including artistic diversity, architectural boundaries, the collective nature of the images and artifacts, interpersonal relationships that occur between patrons, and the change in personal routine that occurs when visiting a museum. Silverman (2010) noted eight ways museums socially contribute: interactive experience and social relationships; communication as meaning making; the meaning of things; human needs; outcomes and changes; relationship benefits and social capital; social change; and culture change.
More recently, Snyder (2022) highlighted findings from recent qualitative research that looked at a number of ways museums are embracing art therapy and related fields in their work. She also identified barriers to providing art therapy within museum spaces. Hartman & Owings (2021) found that there are therapeutic benefits to viewing and participating in an exhibition as well as in the gallery space itself. Scarce et. al (2022) discussed the need for program evaluation, growth, and sustainability of art therapy programs in the museum space. Currently, the Montreal Museum of Fine Art (MMFA) is engaging in outreach within the community to reach those who could benefit from museum experiences. The MMFA connected with the medical community to give doctors the ability to prescribe museum visits for their patients (Amsen, 2021). This is also seen in other countries such as the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, (Vermeulen et al., 2021) and Belgium (Sharp, 2022; Vermeulen et al., 2021) among others.
Let me know in the comments if there’s anything else you’d like to add. We’re all learning together.