Vancouver Art Gallery and PaRx launch nature-and-art prescriptions partnership for mental health

The Story

The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) and BC Parks Foundation’s PaRx, Canada’s national nature prescription program, launched a partnership on World Health Day aimed at supporting patients’ mental health and psychological well-being.

The initiative is described as the first of its kind in Canada, offering an immersive indoor art and nature experience in an urban setting.

The partnership centres on the VAG exhibition “Emily Carr: Navigating an Impenetrable Landscape,” which features Carr’s paintings of British Columbia’s forests, presented as an indoor nature experience. VAG Interim CEO Sirish Rao said visitors come to the gallery to reflect, restore and find solace.

PaRx’s Park Prescriptions director, Melissa Lem, MD, said PaRx frequently receives questions about how people with outdoor accessibility issues can fill nature prescriptions. She said prescribing a nature-inspired art experience is a way to make the benefits of nature accessible to more people and to inspire audiences who may feel more at home in a gallery than outside.

A printed guide for the exhibition encourages visitors to “slow look” by spending time with each painting, connect with the images of nature, and reflect on how the experience makes them feel. Visitors are also encouraged to spend time exploring local parks or getting involved in protecting nature.

During the first year of the program, each visitor with a prescription and an optional guest receives free admission to the gallery. Visitors may return as often as they like through Jan. 4, 2026 by retaining their PaRx nature prescriptions.

Lem also said that most PaRx prescriptions are for mental health concerns and that the collaboration seeks to improve social connection. Paula Toledo, the VAG’s lead well-being consultant, said research suggests that interactions with art and nature can evoke awe and wonder, which can be linked to community involvement and pro-social actions.