Barnes Foundation Launches Mindfulness-Integrated Workshop Blending Art and MBSR

The Barnes Foundation will host Being Present with Art: Cultivating Balance for Spring, a two-hour on-site workshop on Monday, March 23, 2026, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET that pairs mindfulness-based stress reduction practices with museum-based art exercises; the session is led by Roksana Filipowska, PhD, and carries a $90 fee ($81 for members) for a class capped at 25 participants.

Barnes program copy lays out the sequence: “We will open with a guided equanimity meditation, a genre of meditation within MBSR, and spend ample time with three artworks from the collection that resonate with the theme of finding balance amid change.” The listing frames the workshop as coordinated with the seasonal cycle and states participants will engage sustained looking and drawing around works selected to prompt reflection linked to the spring equinox.

LinkedIn promotional material expands on Filipowska’s role and the method: “Being Present with Art: Cultivating Balance for Spring brings these practices together in an on-site workshop led by Roksana Filipowska, PhD, a researcher, educator, writer, and meditation facilitator whose work explores the intersections of art, science, and wholeness.” The LinkedIn post also states, “Developed by Filipowska, the Being Present with Art method integrates mindfulness-based stress reduction with guided close looking and drawing, and has been shown to lower stress while fostering a sense of belonging.”

The Barnes site and LinkedIn both attribute stress reduction and community benefits to the program, with slightly different wording; Barnes copy says the method “has been shown to lower stress while increasing awareness and a sense of belonging.” Barnes also emphasizes that the workshop “will highlight artwork that has not been the focus of previous BPWA classes, so returning students are warmly invited to enroll to deepen their practice,” signaling new visual material for attendees who have taken prior Being Present with Art sessions.

Promotional imagery for the session includes Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Landscape (detail), c. 1900–1905, accession BF74, credited to the Barnes Foundation and marked Public Domain on site materials; LinkedIn’s post displaying that image notes “No alternative text description for this image,” a detail relevant to accessibility for social promotion. The Barnes program page carries the tag #SeeArtDifferently and site navigation prompts such as “Already registered? Log in to Barnes Learning.”

The listing makes clear that “No prior experience with art or meditation is required,” and that the $90 price covers the two-hour format. Registration cues appear on social posts and the Barnes listing, but the class capacity remains limited to 25. Barnes instructs participants that “In syncing an equanimity practice with the seasonal cycle, participants can apply these exercises beyond the workshop to continue to observe the emerging signs of spring in their neighborhoods,” positioning the March 23 workshop as a practice people can carry into daily life.