Whitney Art and Wellness
Building Empathy and Resilience Through Art 

Art museums can be sites of community, healing, personal growth, empathy, and seeing the world from new perspectives.  Researchers in neuroaesthetics, cardiology, and other fields have found that spending time with art can support mental and heart health, and other benefits. Art can connect people intellectually and emotionally allowing for deep intersubjective exploration of how we make meaning through a convivial, collaborative, and enjoyable experience. Practicing skills of observation and perception, and making art allow participants to experience the reparative power of art.   

The Whitney and NYC Health + Hospitals collaborate to support hospital staff through art. Nurses, security, and palliative care workers take part in guided observation and writing to connect with each other and their work. This creative approach helps ease burnout and brings renewed meaning to their roles. 

In collaboration with The Empathy Project at NYU Langone, the Whitney has developed a curriculum that engages medical students, faculty, and staff to build and practice empathy skills through guided close-looking, self-reflection on the experience of perception, and learning to understand other perspectives.  

These partnerships, provide invaluable insights into new ways we engage with our community and offer meaningful wellness experiences—for personal enrichment and the broader social community.

To learn more about these programs or co-develop a partnership reach out at artandwellness@whitney.org.

Partners

The Arts in Medicine department at NYC Health + Hospitals

Working with the Arts in Medicine department at NYC Health + Hospitals, the Whitney supports their HHArt of Medicine program to address burnout among healthcare workers. Through guided sessions in close looking with the visual arts collection the department oversees and at the museum, both clinical and non-clinical staff are invited into a restorative space that fosters connection, deepens empathy, and renews a sense of meaning in their work. These experiences underscore the museum’s commitment to using art as a catalyst for healing, dialogue, and community care.

The Empathy Project at NYU Langone

The Empathy Project brings together leaders in medicine, education, entertainment, and technology to promote empathy in medicine. The project creates engaging, short films that train healthcare providers to be more humane and help empower patients to be effective participants in their own care.

Co-Create Art Therapy

Art Therapy & Reproductive Mental Health offers virtual psychotherapy for creatives and caregivers in New Jersey and New York.