Pillar 2:
Ecological transition in the field of culture

Priority 13:
Taking creative climate action to improve health and wellbeing

The city of Lille recognises the important role of culture in supporting well-being, health, and social inclusion. In response, it is developing a targeted cultural offer that connects cultural, health, and social policies across municipal services and local organisations.

For more than ten years, the Museum for Fine Arts (Palais des Beaux-Arts) has been making progress both regarding museum-therapy, which consists of using the museum environment for wellness purposes, and art therapy, allowing visitors to discover the artworks of the museum and invest in the field of creation through artistic expression.

Several years of experimentation led the museum to sign a 3-year contract with the public hospital of Lille based on “museum prescriptions”. This type of prescription allows a patient to benefit from an art-therapy session combining a visit to the museum and artistic practice.

The session is prescribed by the caregiver and is integrated into a schedule programmed and framed by the museum. The city offers 140 art therapy workshops to patients across several departments: medically assisted procreation, breast cancer, endometriosis, loss of memory, chronic pain and child psychiatry.

This form of art therapy unique in the sense that it is integrated in the patient’s care journey and takes place entirely at the museum.