Artful Aging: Impact of Creative Workshops on Wellbeing in Adults 55+

Abstract

The Frist Art Museum offers hands-on artmaking workshops for adults aged 55 and older to promote well-being and lifelong learning through arts-based interventions. The museum has faced challenges in comprehensively measuring the program's impact on participants' physical and emotional health, cognitive function, and social engagement. Current quantitative surveys do not fully capture the deeper, long-term effects, and a lack of standardized evaluation tools within the creative aging field hinders benchmarking and data-driven improvements. This project employed a mixed-methods approach, using pre- and post-workshop surveys, mid-workshop open-ended surveys, and structured interviews with participants and staff to gather quantitative and qualitative data. The findings indicate a significant positive impact on participants' self-reported emotional and mental well-being, as well as their confidence in learning new skills. The percentage of participants reporting a perfect score for emotional health increased from 36% to 52%, and for mental health, it increased from 54% to 57%. While quantitative data showed no statistically significant change in overall physical health (p=0.3241), qualitative findings revealed indirect physical benefits, such as distraction from chronic pain. Additionally, the evaluation process itself was found to have opportunities for improvement, with feedback pointing to survey length, repetitiveness, and clarity issues. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the museum implement a holistic evaluation framework that integrates health, creative aging, and evaluation effectiveness perspectives to systematically measure multifaceted impacts. Recommendations also include refining and diversifying data collection methods, such as streamlining surveys and incorporating creative journaling or small group discussions to capture more nuanced impacts. Finally, the museum should integrate actionable components into workshops to encourage participants to apply their learning to broader community initiatives, thereby ensuring the program's long-term sustainability and demonstrating its value to stakeholders.