By implementing the project, we wanted to create an innovative strategy for social inclusion by linking art, health, and wellbeing through a new teaching methodology, digital tools and the development of soft skills. The project positioned museums as learning environments and universities as cultural integration facilitators. The objectives included developing a social inclusion system tailored for individuals facing social and health challenges, while also addressing the broader community, designing innovative inclusive didactic paths, developing soft skills and training future and actual museum professionals, social care givers, schoolteachers and healthcare personnel. The project methodology transformed the theoretical concept of museums as inclusive spaces for health and wellbeing into practical paths/tools tailored to local needs, supported by open educational resources (Inclusive Memory MOOC). Using Design-Based Research (DBR) methodology, the process had different stages (the ADDIE cycle-Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation). The Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach was also used to develop art-based activities for Health and Wellbeing promotion within partners’ local communities.
We applied for this project to tackle crucial societal needs exacerbated by the COVID[NN1] -19 pandemic, which highlighted weaknesses in health systems and intensified mental health issues, social marginalization, and cultural inequalities (WHO, 2021). Vulnerable groups faced increased exclusion also from cultural spaces, limiting their participation in social life and active citizenship. The project sought to promote the creation of a shared social memory through a museum-based social inclusive system linking art, health, and wellbeing. It stemmed from the collaboration between HEIs, Health and Social Care Institutions and museums to enhance museum education and experiences. Evidence supports art’s role in alleviating anxiety, depression, and stress, yet its health benefits remain undervalued. Thus, the project designed, realized, monitored and evaluated art-based activities addressed to people with health and social care problems while also fostering broader inclusion. Using the reversed community approach, the project intended to stimulate the rebuilding of communities through the collaboration of universities, health professionals, and cultural organizations to challenge inequalities and encourage inclusion and wellbeing.