News and Blogs

For a digest of the latest news each month, subscribe to our bulletin by joining the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance.

News

Listen to a recording of this callout 
One possible response to the budget is that it doesn't match the ‘mood music’ the cultural and community sectors were hearing from government earlier in the summer (see this
Image
A young black boy wearing a navy blue jacket facing away from the camera painting on a colourful canvas
Becky Bailey for Kazzum Arts
Find out what a day in the life looks like for past CHWA Award Winners, Kazzum Arts.

Blog

The start of the new year is bringing changes at CHWA: we're delighted to welcome three new Board members: Thahmina Begum, Jemilea Wisdom-Baako and Nuala Morse. 
In response to the Disability Livelihood and Employment focus of this year's UK Disability History Month, we're sharing Wildflowers by Karl Mercer, a Curating for Visibility Fellow at Dover Museum a short video exploring his own experiences of employment within the heritage sector.
We know we live in an unjust society. Systemic racism, ableism, sexism, ageism, class discrimination, transphobia, discrimination on the basis of religion… it’s all (arguably) more visible than it’s ever been.

Stories of lived experience

Image
an abstract digital artwork with a dark background featuring bright prin, blues and fine points of yellow light in the centre
‘Untitled’ By Casey Francis (Mad Truth)
...through creativity we can transform adversity to beauty and in the process transform ourselves. We can create our own lives as if we are creating a work of art. Instilled within all of our experience are layers of meaning, understanding and connection. Art is empathy, it is communication. Art allows us to step outside of ourselves, and see something inside that we could not recognise because of our external circumstances, our pain, our fear, our doubt.
Image
Venn diagram showing the intersections of 'queer, 'creativity' and 'health'
Illustrations by MJ Barker
What would it mean to ‘queer’ creative health? Why might we need to, and, if so, how? I was given the opportunity to first delve into these questions through a PhD scholarship I completed in 2019. My literature review explored longer histories of the field of Arts in Health as part of exploring its relationship to people and place.  
Image
Tina Blaber with guitar against a wall
Tina Blaber
Our existence is embedded in culture – it’s all around us – and I think the need for this, as social creatures, is an inherent part of our make-up, as human beings.

A Day in the Life

Image
Formal portrait photograph of a woman facing the camera. She has long brown hair and is wearing a grey jacket and black top.
Meet one of our new Directors, Dr Nuala Morse...
Image
close-up photo of a woman in a colourful headscarf and orange top speaking animatedly in a group setting
Meet our new Co-Chair, Thahmina Begum...What have you been doing today?
Image
a woman speaks in front of an audience in a brightly lit room. she is standing in front of a large window onto a street.
Moses Baako (photographer)
Meet one of our new Directors, Jemilea Wisdom-Baako...

International

Image
Image featuring the same information as in the text on a coloured background
The National Organization for Arts in Health is pleased to invite presenters to submit a proposal for the fifth annual second virtual national conference, The Art of Resilience on October 19 – 21, 2021.
Image
Hear and Now 2019 in Bedford, co-produced by Orchestras Live and the Philharmonia Orchestra © Beth Walsh
Hear and Now 2019 in Bedford, co-produced by Orchestras Live and the Philharmonia Orchestra © Beth Walsh
An invitation on behalf of the international Music for Social Impact research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to participate in a survey of musicians in all pa
Image
a woman discusses a picture at the Crocker Museum with a group of seated women
Crocker Museum, Sacramento, California
Seeking participants for new online study to find out.