The Diputació de Barcelona encourages the municipalities to work for the progress and welfare of the citizens.

In 2021 they launched the CulturaMENT program aimed at linking Culture & the Arts with Mental Health.

AccessLab was commissioned to carry out a study on the current situation regarding cultural activities linked to mental health in the areas of theatre, music, dance, circus, museums, visual arts centers and libraries. Elderly people, –particularly those with dementia–, their carers and their families suffered enormously during the pandemic, which is why we focused on this type of audience.

Directing the research was Dr. Teresa Pérez Testor, psychiatrist, cultural manager and a specialist in cultural activities for people with dementia. Both she and Mònica Surís compiled all the information and results.

We analyzed the different agents involved in the cultural offer of the city councils: facilities, connecting agents and final users. Through interviews, contacts, surveys, conferences we drew up a report on the current situation.

CulturaMENT is strategically linked to two of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): #3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, and #10: Reduced inequalities.

CulturaMENT is also closely linked to the Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia 2017-2025 of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The final report was the starting point for a first test in November 2021, inspired by good practices in the matter.

The Quinzena CulturaMENT was a 2-week experience involving 12 city councils promoting cultural activities for people with dementia, their carers and their families. There were 64 proposals in total, including theatre, dance, music, libraries, cinema and poetry.

Fortunately, we were commissioned to follow the development of the different activities in order to evaluate the results of that first two-week experience.

Our conclusions were that, although they had little time to prepare the activities, all the municipalities were positively surprised by the interest and participation of the audience and were betted by participants to follow through.

The Diputació de Barcelona aims to continue to encourage the municipalities to propose cultural events in the coming years.