Exploring how Relax with Art helps visitors feel better

Relax with Art is a free, monthly activity at Salford Museum & Art Gallery. It’s been running since July 2024, and this blog is a chance to review what attendees tell us about the benefits of taking part.

Relax with Art was originally developed on the advice of social prescribers in Salford (Community Connectors from the Wellbeing Matters programme) who suggested there was a need for more free and regular activities to help people live well. Find out more about how the sessions run.

This format was co-designed with members of START Inspiring Minds (a local mental health charity) who helped us explore how we could use our galleries and collections to help visitors take time for themselves.

Exploring Evaluation:

Since Relax with Art is a short and informal activity, our early evaluation have reflected this. We started by asking participants to think of a word that described how they felt at the beginning of the session. We then repeated this process at the end. Here’s a sample of the words shared:

It is clear people go through a big emotional change during the hour they are with us. So far, our data tells us that 100% of attendees tell us they leave our sessions feeling better.

To try and understand why this transformation happens, we have been collecting quotes from participants. First of all, participant definitely reported feeling more relaxed:

• “Love the description of the painting so relaxing”
• “I was able to switch off from everything – very mindful.”
• “Taking time to slow down was very good.”
• “Came away calm and happy”

The session is also clearly a chance for people to try new things and be social:

• “Enjoyed meeting new people and talking about something different.”
• “Good to meet new people and do activities you wouldn’t normally do.”
• “It helped improve my mood and chat with likeminded people … Really good chatty session.”
• “Very worthwhile event, nice meeting new people. Great collage activity.”

The feedback also revealed that people also took away new skills and knowledge:

• “It made me consider a piece of art and look deeper into the image.”
• “It has improved my knowledge regarding paintings and artists”
• “Made me stop and look at a picture in more detail. Really enjoyed taking time out to concentrate on one painting.”
• “Improved my knowledge about observing paintings/examining art in more detail.”

Lots of us are familiar with the 5 Ways to Wellbeing – the recognition that taking notice, connecting, learning, giving and being active – all help us to feel better. From the feedback generated so far, it is clear that Relax with Art embraces this approach.

Who attends?

We are currently improving how we collect more quantitative data so that we can understand better who attends and generate firmer statistics about this:

• We now collect postcodes so that we can understand where participants come from.
• We also record where people hear about us. (Currently most people find us on social media (especially via Facebook) but some people are also referred to sessions via their GP practice or community partners such as START and Langworthy Cornerstone.
• We also ask if participants have attended the museum before – to see if we are connecting with first-time-visitors.
• We don’t currently collect personal monitoring information – as this feels intrusive for a one-hour activity – but we will review this.

Next steps

Relax with Art is open to everyone – but our aim is to connect to more people with a health need, particularly new visitors who haven’t engaged with the museum before.

We are now offering free taster sessions to local community groups – who can book a dedicated Relax with Art with our facilitators. We know we need to do more to advertise the sessions with physical posters in local community and health venues. We are also hoping to deliver Relax with Art at weekends – as our local Community Connectors colleagues are advising us that is a need for more wellbeing activities outside of work hours.

Furthermore, we are also trying to embed the 5 Ways to Wellbeing in more of our work. Museums are the perfect place to take notice, connect, learn, give and be active, and we are exploring how this approach can influence how we design our exhibitions.

If you would like to find out more about Relax with Art please do get in touch.