The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and the Pasqual Maragall Foundation sign a collaboration agreement to promote arts and health projects in the field of Alzheimer’s disease
The agreement establishes a joint line of work to develop innovative projects aimed at both people living with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers, with the goal of fostering wellbeing and contributing to evidence on the role of the arts in individual and collective health.
Barcelona, 6 May 2026. The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) and the Pasqual Maragall Foundation have signed a collaboration agreement to promote joint projects in the field of arts and health, with a special focus on Alzheimer’s disease, other cognitive impairments, and support for caregivers.
The agreement was signed by the director of the MNAC, Pepe Serra, and the director general of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation and the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center, Dr. Arcadi Navarro, during an event held at the museum.
The collaboration aims to explore the potential of the arts and artistic heritage as tools to improve the emotional, relational and community wellbeing of people affected by Alzheimer’s disease and those who care for them. The agreement establishes a stable framework for designing, implementing and evaluating artistic interventions focused on improving quality of life, social connection, cognitive stimulation, emotional expression and care support.
The agreement also foresees the incorporation of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation into the museum’s permanent advisory spaces on arts and health, strengthening the strategic framework, methodological rigor and connection with scientific, social and healthcare knowledge related to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
This partnership brings together two leading institutions in their respective fields. The Pasqual Maragall Foundation contributes its scientific, social and healthcare expertise in Alzheimer’s disease, biomedical research, support and guidance for affected individuals and their families. The museum contributes its collection, spaces, expertise in cultural mediation and its experience in arts and health projects developed in collaboration with hospitals, primary care centres, public institutions and community organisations.
This alliance is part of the transformation process of the Nou MNAC and reflects the museum’s commitment to reinforcing its role as a public, open, inclusive and wellbeing-oriented cultural institution. In this context, the museum understands culture as a community asset capable of contributing to individual and collective wellbeing, and places arts and health among the strategic lines of its present and future development.
The agreement also aims to contribute to the generation of knowledge and evidence regarding the impact of the arts on health. Both institutions will work from a perspective of innovation, methodological rigor and knowledge transfer, with the goal of making the resulting projects a reference point in the application of artistic and cultural practices in the field of Alzheimer’s disease and care.
Through this collaboration, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and the Pasqual Maragall Foundation open a new stage of shared work connecting heritage, research, health and community. The agreement reinforces the idea that museums can play an active role in addressing major contemporary social challenges and that culture can form part of ecosystems of care, prevention and health promotion.
About the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya
The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya preserves, studies and shares one of the country’s most important art collections, spanning from Romanesque art to modern and contemporary art. Within the framework of the Nou MNAC transformation and expansion project, the museum is redefining its role as a public cultural institution, with increasing attention to education, mediation, participation, accessibility, health, wellbeing and community engagement.
About the Pasqual Maragall Foundation
The Pasqual Maragall Foundation works towards a future without Alzheimer’s through scientific research, prevention, early detection and support for people affected by the disease and their families. In the field of scientific research, the Foundation includes the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center, a research centre dedicated to preventing the disease and studying cognitive functions affected by healthy and pathological ageing.
