National Gallery Singapore Earns Groundbreaking Honor as World’s First Healing Arts Centre of Excellence
SINGAPORE — The National Gallery Singapore has been recognized for weaving arts into public health and wellbeing, becoming the first museum globally to be designated a Healing Arts Centre of Excellence.
This accreditation, awarded by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), places the gallery in the company of esteemed institutions such as Carnegie Hall in New York and the Scottish Ballet.
The gallery was evaluated against criteria that emphasize a dedicated team, ongoing support for underserved communities, and a track record of sustained impact.
A flagship offering is Slow Art, a program that invites visitors to slow down, observe closely, and engage with artworks in a mindful way.
In addition, the National Gallery features tactile collections, guided tours designed for blind and low-vision visitors, and initiatives for people living with dementia and their caregivers. There is even a dedicated “calm room” built with neurodivergent visitors in mind.
The calm room includes sensory-friendly elements such as weighted blankets and adjustable lighting with soothing tones, creating a space for visitors to regulate emotions and unwind during their museum visit. These features contributed to the centre’s selection as a Healing Arts Centre of Excellence.
Dr. Stephen Stapleton, founding co-director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, explained that the designation comes with ongoing support from both the lab and the WHO.
Launched in 2023, the Jameel Arts & Health Lab is a global initiative that studies and promotes the integration of the arts into public health and clinical care. It was co-founded by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the Saudi philanthropic group Community Jameel, and British social enterprise Culturunners.
“(The National Gallery) will receive support to develop a long-term roadmap and plan, with leadership playing a key role at both local and regional levels,” noted Dr. Stapleton, who also founded Culturunners. He added that the museum can inspire other cultural institutions—concert halls, galleries, and performing arts centers—to adopt arts-and-health programs.
Expanding Wellbeing into Community Spaces
The National Gallery is actively championing the idea that museums should act as partners in public health and broaden programs that promote community wellbeing. One approach is translating museum activities into community care settings.
A recent pilot partnered with All Saints Home, an eldercare provider, running from August to October this year. This 10-week program, tailored for individuals with dementia, adapted the gallery’s Art with You initiative. Staff and volunteers at the home were trained to engage residents using carefully chosen artworks from the gallery.
Ms. Alicia Teng, deputy director of the gallery’s Community and Access team, described the response as encouraging and indicated potential for growth. She hopes more social service partners will join to co-create programs that address diverse community needs in comfortable, familiar environments.
Global Recognition and a Rising Standard
The Healing Arts Centres of Excellence program honors institutions that push the boundaries of the arts-health interface while prioritizing underserved communities. The 134-year-old Carnegie Hall was the inaugural recipient in September 2024, followed by the National Gallery’s recognition. Carnegie Hall has long offered wellbeing-focused concerts and performances across varied settings, including hour-long “wellbeing concerts” that blend mindfulness with live performance.
The Scottish Ballet received the designation in January this year and has developed collaborations with health institutions to assist people with Parkinson’s, dementia, and multiple sclerosis. It also runs programs for health and social care professionals to help alleviate physical and emotional strain.
Dr. Nisha Sajnani, founding co-director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, appeared on CNA’s Singapore Tonight to praise the National Gallery for embedding wellbeing at the core of its mission. She highlighted the gallery’s partnerships, staff training, and culturally grounded community work, noting the strong emphasis on evaluating impact through a blend of creativity, care, and rigor.
She stressed that museums should be designed to capture attention and bring people together, yet their potential to support health and wellbeing has often been overlooked in terms of curated content and alignment with community values, concerns, and interests. Beyond education, museums can function as anchor institutions—like schools or medical centers—supporting the wellbeing of surrounding communities. This view aligns with decades of evidence showing how the arts bolster neurological, physical, mental, and social health. A 2019 WHO review of over 3,000 studies links regular engagement with the arts—from music and reading to dance, theatre, visual art, and even gardening—with reduced stress, healthier behaviors, stronger social connections, and lower anxiety and depression risks. Creative arts therapies—art, drama, and music therapy—have demonstrated measurable benefits in pain management, rehabilitation, maternal wellbeing, and chronic illness care.
Looking Ahead: More Partnerships and Greater Reach
Other local institutions, such as Yong Siew Toh Conservatory’s Centre for Music and Health and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, are aligning with the Jameel Arts & Health Lab to ensure regional impact remains meaningful and sustainable. Priorities include high-quality research to shape policy, capacity-building to develop a regional community of practice across arts and health, and co-designed pilots in hospitals, community spaces, and cultural venues. Some pilots may be scaled or adapted regionally based on community needs and program relevance.
As Dr. Sajnani put it, sometimes the best approach is to transplant a successful model from one integrated care setting to others, ensuring it fits local contexts and needs.
