National Museum of Contemporary Art

ΕΜΣΤ participates with two art psychotherapy groups for mental health patients in the pilot action SUB.2.1 “Cultural Prescription as Supplementary Treatment in Mental Health” of the Ministry of Culture.
The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Health signed in September 2021 a Memorandum of Cooperation for the design and implementation of an innovative Cultural Prescription program. With this program, initiatives are adopted that include the arts and culture in preventive and therapeutic treatment to promote the mental health and well-being of citizens, recognizing the beneficial role of contemporary artistic creation in the health and well-being of individuals.
The implementation of the Cultural Prescription program presupposes the conduct of a research project for the design, implementation and evaluation of the individual actions within the framework of the overall program, in order to achieve the best result. Additionally, the research team will develop appropriate tools for monitoring and evaluating the action framework. To this end, the contracting parties cooperate in a mutually complementary manner for the implementation of the program within the framework of the common public purpose of the creation, planning and implementation of the Cultural Prescription program.
The object of this action is the derivation of a Research Project aiming to create the organizational framework for the inclusion of Cultural Prescription as a complementary treatment for people facing mental health problems or psychological problems from chronic diseases, the design and pilot implementation of the program, the study on the effects of patient contact with art and culture, the process and ways of participation of patients and cultural institutions, and the supervision and evaluation of the program in order to improve it. It will also develop the appropriate tools so that the action can be integrated into the electronic platform of immaterial prescription of IDIKA S.A.

In early 2017, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (EMST) in collaboration with the First Psychiatric Department of the University of Athens, Eginition Hospital carried out a three-month pilot art psychotherapy program on the museum’s premises. The program was held for a closed group of 10 participants, following an open call. During the long-lasting period of economic, political and social crisis that Greece was facing, the two institutions have been collaborating in order to offer participants a space for self-expression, creativity, critical thinking and for reducing anxiety through art making while simultaneously engaging participants with the museum collection.