Brenau partners with High Museum for arts and health research

Brenau University is partnering with the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in a two-year study focused on the impact of art museums and the well-being of diverse adult populations.

The study is funded by an $80,000 research grant the High Museum recently received from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Barbara Steinhaus, chair of Brenau's Music Department, and Claudia Wilburn, chair of the Art & Design Department and director of Brenau's Center for the Arts & Design, are co-principal investigators, alongside the High's Julia Forbes, associate director of institutional research, and Andrew Westover. Ph.D., the Eleanor M. Storza deputy director of learning and civic engagement.

"In 2019, the World Health Organization published a report on arts and health, and one of the things they found was that people who visited an art museum, went to a concert, or participated in an artistic activity had a 17% decrease in feelings of isolation," Steinhaus said. "The outgoing U.S. surgeon general recently spoke about community in his Prescription for America speech and the idea that social isolation and loneliness, particularly in older adults, is a problem. It is almost as if loneliness is the greatest killer."

Steinhaus, who has a Doctor of Musical Arts, has a background in arts in healthcare and a graduate certificate in the field. She is also a founding member of the National Organization for Arts in Health and has authored research papers on the subject. Additionally, she teaches an arts in healthcare course for both fine arts and health science majors.

Wilburn, who has a Master of Fine Arts, will work alongside Steinhaus and Stefan Shulze, Brenau's director of grants, also contributed to the proposal.

"I am so pleased that the synergy here has brought something like this," Steinhaus said.

The study begins this year and will examine the social, emotional, intellectual, physical and spiritual effects of art museum visitation on diverse adult populations. It will conclude in 2027. Atlanta-based arts and health research firm Performance Hypothesis will support protocol and data collection.

Fine arts students from Brenau will take part in collecting data by assisting participants and explaining the program, Steinhaus said.

With this award, the High becomes the first museum in the United States to lead an NEA research grant and analysis in the arts. The grant is one of only 18 awarded by the NEA this year to support a broad range of research studies that investigate the value or impact of the arts.

"The High serves as a haven for connection and engagement, which is more important now than ever as we face the growing national crises of loneliness and social isolation," High Museum Director Rand Suffolk said. "We're so grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts for their support of our research, which will quantify how art museums can change their communities, and individuals' lives, in incredible ways. While scholars have recently started focusing on these critical topics, few studies of this nature have been conducted in art museums or in the Southeast, so our project offers many opportunities to break new ground and offer important insights."

This funding launches the first major research project of the High's new institutional research division.

"This research grant expands the High's capacity as a knowledge-building institution," Westover said. "Through quantitative and qualitative tools, this mixed-methods research project will focus on how art engages individual flourishing and well-being. Further, the study will explore how art museums can create bonds across differences of affinities, experiences, identities and beliefs, to better understand how art museums can help create a stronger civil society."

More details about the study and the museum can be found on the High Museum's website. Brenau and the High Museum have partnered for nearly a decade, including an annual student exhibit.

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