Using recent literature in philosophy of mind and cognitive science including Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature by Alva Noë (2015); Beyond the Brain: How Body and Environment Shape Animal and Human Minds by Louise Barrett (2011); and The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience by Francisco J. Varela, Evan Thompson and Eleanor Rosch (1993), the current paper presents an interdisciplinary 4E framework that can be used to better understand what it means to increase public engagement and increase diversity in nationally funded art galleries. The goal of this paper is to discuss the concept of 4E cognition relative to the art gallery setting and how we can apply this knowledge to the issues of public engagement in the visual arts.