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Rosie Dow, Board Director of the Culture Health and Wellbeing Alliance and Programme Manager for ‘HARP’ at Nesta, explains what this arts and health innovation programme has been about, and what they’ve learned
Latest news
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Feels like Home ESOL Group, Barnsley Museums- skipping at Cannon Hall
To coincide with the national event taking place between Monday 16 and Sunday 22 May, Barnsley will be hosting its first-ever Creativity and Wellbeing week led in collaboration by Barnsley Council, the Creativity, Health and Wellbeing Alliance and other key partners.
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CHWA Gather In event at The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. Image by: Jenny Harper
Exploring a new AHRC Research Programme led by Professor Helen Chatterjee
The Covid-19 pandemic adversely and disproportionately impacted vulnerable members of society, and highlighted significant inequalities in the UK.
Engagement with museums, heritage sites and other arts and culture organisations has been linked to improved health and wellbeing outcomes for visitors. Studies commissioned by the DCMS, Heritage Alliance, Arts Council and other sector organisations have particularly highlighted benefits for children’s social development, memory function in older age, and wellbeing improvements in adults.
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University of South Wales
Places are available for the well-established MA Arts Practice (Arts, Health and Wellbeing) course in the heart of Cardiff.
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Arts and Minds workshops in schools (Image courtesy of Sheila Ceccarelli)
In January 2022 the government released a Policy Paper called Levelling Up the United Kingdom. A response to the widening inequalities in the UK, the authors describe 'levelling up' as "a moral, social and economic programme for the whole of government". The paper sets out to describe a route towards creating "equal opportunities".
The Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance has come together with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing; the LENs (lived experience network), National Centre for Creative Health; WHO Collaborating Centre for Arts & Health; and University College London to submit comments on the new
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“The cultural and VCSE sectors have a key role to play in reducing health inequalities”
Hidden Lives, Hidden Gems is looking for contributions from creative practitioners, researchers, artists, academics and others to a workshop symposium programme, which will take place over two days in a central London location.
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Meet Me on The Radio poster, Entelechy Arts. Image credit: Roswitha Chesher
The ‘Discoveries in Distanced Arts: The work, wonder, and wear of remote creative programmes’ report provides insights into the impacts of Covid-19 on cultural and creative sectors and shares learning on how to develop remote creative programmes.
Free support for Birmingham based lead artists and projects working with vulnerable clients when delivering activities against health and wellbeing outcomes in Birmingham.
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Elaine Lim Newton
We are seeking applications from a health or social care practitioner or researcher with specific expertise in health inequalities, to support our strategic commitment to partnership and equity.
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Simone Trumpet: The Divinity of Afro Hair
This month offers a chance to experience events, discussions and more around the country to mark Black History Month.
You can watch CHWA's conversation with activist and art therapist Olatunde Spence here:
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CreateSpace arts for wellbeing project, Birmingham Museums Trust/Creative Health CIC/Rita Patel
Are you based in the West Midlands region?
Are you passionate about culture/health/wellbeing and ready for a new challenge?
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Do you believe in the power of Hip Hop and MC culture to transform health and wellbeing?
SANE have launched another round of awards for the SANE Creative Awards Scheme, which offers up to £300 to individuals with mental health conditions (and their carers) to develop their creative potential.
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Today is the final day of South Asian Heritage Month (18 July to 17 August 2021). As the month closes South Asian Heritage Month on twitter has been focusing on Afghanistan.
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Oxford Botanic Garden. Photo by Ian Wallman (2017)
Exploring how social prescribing within cultural spaces can support older people’s wellbeing:
Interim summary report + invitation to end-of-study event on 20 September
An interdisciplinary team of researchers has been funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council to carry out a study to address t
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Shape of Change- Artwork by Shanali Perera
For the audio description for this call out created by Mah Rana, please click here.
In July 2021, SICK! Festival has a Micro-commissioning fund of £6000 for 1-3 projects by early career artists in Greater Manchester and the North West.
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So Many Beauties- Intercultural Music Project
Intercultural Music Showcase as part of South Asian Heritage Month- Thursday 5 August, 6pm - 7.15pm
The So Many Beauties Collective weaves a rich tapestry of sounds, drawing on diverse cultural influences.
Apply for UKRI funding to carry out a pilot study for the Mobilising Cultural and Natural Assets to Combat Health Inequalities programme
The study should focus on how to scale up small, local approaches for addressing health inequalities.
Victoria Ryves, Programme Manager for Heritage Doncaster, reports on the History, Health and Happiness Impact Report 2020/21
Download the full report here
Click here for an audio description of the role and application process
As part of our Baring Foundation-funded work to understand more about what sustainable practice looks like in mental health and the arts, we are looking for a facilitator to manage and report on a series of meetings this summer.
In the run up to the UN climate summit in November, Letters to the Earth (LTTE) is gathering peoples' messages, stories and visions for a better future.
Read about how to share your own letter here.
LTTE has also built new toolkits for creating your own Letters to the Earth community or education workshop.
Zoe Brown and Sophie Mitchell from Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, and Michael Cunliffe from North Tyneside Art Studio discuss their work to tackle local health priorities, including supporting people's mental health through collaborative programmes to make the museums relevant and welcom
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Joyce Treasure / Red Earth Collective
Tuesday 15 June: A screening of a performance art video by Birmingham-based artist Joyce Treasure in response to the global pandemic and Black Lives Matter and Red Earth's Sandra Griffiths' interview with Joyce.
An Office for Students' survey has been published to consult on government to proposals to separate "High-cost subject funding: performing arts; creative arts; media studies; archaeology", which are not deemed "strategic priorities", and reduce the government subsidy that tops up student fees by 50%.
Born out of the COVID-19 pandemic, DISRUPT will reimagine the role of the arts in our society.
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Outside Edge Theatre Company’s Check-in/Check-out. Photo credit: Ali Wright)
Discover more about the winning, highly commended and shortlisted CHWA 2021 Awards projects and organisations
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London Arts and Health (LAAH) and the Mayor of London have launched a myth busting guide to help support the hundreds of grassroots organisations in London to become involved in the London recovery plan.
A number of groups – including the Museums Association, WhatNext? and David Tovey from Arts and Homelessness International – have drawn attention to the risks of exacerbating inequalities through the process of covid certification to access venues.
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The Birth Project uses the arts to explore the impact of birth, not only on new mothers but on obstetricians, midwives, doulas and birth-partners. The team at Derby University have funding to offer free training sessions/accompanied film viewings which can be tailored for different audiences, such as:
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Crucible artwork for Brighton and Sussex University Hospital NHS Trust (BSUH), commissioned as part of Connect, the 3Ts Hospital Redevelopment Public Art Programme.
Brighton-based arts collective Nimbus have created a new website and forthcoming permanent artwork to story-tell the rich tapestry of histories of
A summary of the 2021 Budget can be found here on the government's site.
The Association of British Orchestras, City of London Sinfonia & Orchestras Live have launched a report, Orchestras in Healthcare, which suggests that orchestras contribute more than £1.6m to the public health sector
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Just bounce back i by Sue Flowers 2020
We are currently holding focus groups to help us understand more about what makes working in the arts and mental health sustainable.
These follow on from a survey we conducted from July to mid-September, which received 119 responses.
A report will be made available in early 2022.
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Janet inspired by the Beaney House of Art & Knowledge collections to make figures. Photo: Wendy Daws
A graduate research study investigating museums on prescription from the perspective of the museum practitioners involved in them. Museums on prescription is part of the rising social prescribing initiative aimed at linking patients with non-medical services and resources for the betterment of their overall health and well-being.
Culture-led wellbeing: investigating the changing skills of the cultural workforce
A new ESRC DTP Collaborative Studentship hosted by the University of Leicester and University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM)
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The National Centre for Creative Health has been formed in response to Recommendation 1 in the Creative Health
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UCL Grant Museum (c) UCL
UCL’s MASc in Creative Health will create a new generation of socially engaged scholars and practitioners to meet the needs of a changing health, social care and voluntary third sector, where personalised care, social prescribing, health inequity and the patient experience are mainstreamed into public health. This programme is the first of its kind in the world, both in terms of the qualification (Masters in Arts & Sciences) and the academic field of study (Creative Health).
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'Connection I' (detail) by Norie Hatakeyama. Part of the Paintings in Hospitals collection. © the artist
CHWA is a partner in the Community COVID Research Project and we would like to learn how you are connecting with people who are vulnerable, isolated, shielding, or from disadvantaged backgrounds. Your experience will help us understand how best to reach the most marginalised members of society.
According to mental health charity Mind's analysis of NHS Digital figures, numbers for urgent and emergency referrals of people in crisis increased by 15% between March and July. Read more.
The Rugby League World Cup 2021 has teamed up with Community Integrated Care (a national social care charity) for a compeition – open to anyone who accesses social care – to design the official Christmas card for the tournament.
Feed into the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Tackling Loneliness Network's task force, exploring how life can be improved for older people during the pandemic.
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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 fun
A national arts programme for NHS hospital staff in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
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Branching Out, artwork by Ruth Flanagan
Do you believe in the power of creativity and culture to transform health and wellbeing?
Are you passionate about and committed to amplifying the voice of lived experience and challenging inequality?
Do you have the time and expertise to guide a fledgling organisation with co-production at its heart?
We are a group of researchers and organisations funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to understand how people have occupied themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance is working with partners across culture, health and wellbeing to build evidence of the work being done by creative and cultural practitioners and organisations around the country to support health and wellbeing during Covid-19. We are gathering this information with the following aims:
The Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance is a national membership organisation for everyone invested in the relationship between creativity, culture, health and wellbeing. Our vision is a healthy world powered by our creativity and imagination. We are an organisation driven by the collective power of our members.
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Jasmine O’Hare for Cut and Stick Together, Arts Development Company
We would like to ask you about whether and how you have found the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance useful since our last survey (April 2019).
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Dancing in Driveways, Charlotte Armitage
Please see links to the available support and detailed information and guidance on who can apply below:
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This year will see the launch of a Singing for Health Network for practitioners, researchers and anyone interested or involved in Singing for Health and Well-being. The overarching aim of the Network is to bring Singing for Health intelligence under one roof and forge closer links between research and practice.
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The Arts & Health Hub is a supportive and non-competitive network for artists interested in or working in the arts and health sector.
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Artwork by Lorna Collins
During the Covid 19 emergency many professionals in the culture and health field have pulled out all the stops to support the communities they are close to. Others have lost some or even all of their work or have been disconnected through the furlough scheme. And now, the future is at best uncertain.
Arts, Creativity and Health: A Special Issue for the Journal ‘Public Health’
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Crocker Museum, Sacramento, California
Seeking participants for new online study to find out.
The Royal Society for Public Health and Beatfreaks have both pointed to a rise in mental health concerns amongst young people during covid, based on surveys of 5,000 adults and 1,500 young people respectively.
Beetfreaks also learnt that 1 in 5 young people are using creativity to support their mental health.
‘Art Psychotherapy: Innovative practice and new perspectives’ (working title) aims to capture the range of current activity in the
In April and May 2020, 220 culture, health and wellbeing organisations and practitioners responded to a survey about their work, coordinated by:
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"What I've missed during lockdown", Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Trust
The Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance is gathering evidence of the sector's response to covid. See this page for more information.
Results from the survey will be added to this page as we analyse them.
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Performing Medicine is a charitable organisation delivering creative training programmes for healthcare professionals and students. In the last few days Performing Medicine has published its Circle of Care – "a relational framework for care" – and new guidance for NHS staff wearing PPE, based on advice from actors used to working in heavy costume.
The APPG – co-chaired by Baroness Deborah Bull and Chi Onwurah MP – is working with King’s College London, University of Edinburgh and the Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre (led by Nesta) on a year-long project looking at ‘what works’.
On 26 March we published a brief snapshot report on the culture, health and wellbeing sector and its immediate concerns for the short and longer term.
UCL Behavioural Science & Health has launched a study into the psychological and social effects of Covid-19 in the UK.
The Health Foundation and the Institute for Health Equity have launched their report Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On, showing that health inequalities are increasing. Culture remains largely absent from its the recommendations, although the report
While great strides have been taken in research into participant experiences of Arts in Health, there has so far been very little exploration of practitioners’ perspectives (Naismith, 2019). This study will investigate the experiences of Arts in Health practitioners/ artists working in health, social care and participatory settings.
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Creative Potential CIC
The Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance in partnership with Derby City Council is looking to commission an East Midlands' artist to create artworks for the CHWA 2020 Awards
In partnership with Arts Development at Derby City Council we are offering 10 free spaces to attend A Culture of Care to freelance creative practitioners and carers who live, or whose practice, is based in Derby.
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Photo by Charlotte Armitage for Creative Recovery
The Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance is joining forces with the Network for Arts, Heritage and Design in Hospitals, Arts & Health South West, and London Arts & Health to be on the new Julie's Bicyle Acceler
Summary: This workshop will explore key principles and methodologies for evaluating arts for health and wellbeing programmes, examining the opportunities and challenges linked to embedding evaluation best practice appropriately, creatively and robustly.
The University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine is working with Ulster University to map the range of arts and cultural practices with patients in palliative care internationally.
Please find responses linked below from:
The Museums Association on all the parties' manifestos
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Parkinson's dance class, Pavillion Dance South West
The Foundation has published two significant new resources for creative ageing: Around the World in 80 Creative Ageing Projects and
Deadline: 16 December 2019
A new National Social Prescribing Special Interest Group is calling for case studies focused on activity to support the early years and 1001 days agenda and/or new mothers. The case studies will be used to compile a national handbook for commissioners on how culture can promote wellbeing in these contexts.
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A new review of evidence has been published by the World Health Organization. The synthesis report, written by Daisy Fancourt and Saoirse Finn "aims to close this awareness gap by mapping the current available evidence in the field of arts and health."
The report focuses largely on the WHO European Region and collates results from over 3,000 studies.
The Repository for Arts and Health Resources was originally created by Angus McLewin and Stephen Clift of the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health, on behalf of the RSPH Special Interest Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing.
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Tom Bailey (Arts & Minds Leeds)
The Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network (LAHWN) hosted a vibrant and well-attended network event this October and generously offered us a workshop space to explore climate change with members of the network, following up on ideas generated by our
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Nick Ewbank Associates were commissioned by Voluntary Arts to produce this review for BBC Music Day 2019. The paper includes discussions of the physiological benefits of music; music and empathy; and the value of music participation for both personal wellbeing and social cohesion.
Key findings the paper highlights include
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Beaney House of Art & Knowledge
Kyunghee Kwon, program coordinator of the educational community development team at the South Korean Arts and Culture Education Service (KACES), met the Health and Wellbeing team at the Beaney House of Art & Knowledge this September to learn more about their work.
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Astronomy: a section through the earth, showing the atmosphere. Engraving. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY
We're summarising here some of the discussions that took place during our first twitter chat – especially for those of you who are not on twitter (or you can find the chat on twitter here).
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Arts Council England / Zuhura Plummer
The Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance's official response to the final draft of Arts Council England's strategy is attached here.
Power and Privilege in the 21st Century Museum was devloped through the Museums Association Transformers: Diversify programme. The report aims to provide practical tools for transforming museums.
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KIMA: Noise by Analema Group, 2019
How do urban noises affect our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing?
From 6-8 September a new participatory art project ‘KIMA: Noise’ will explore the effects of noise on well-being through an interactive installation at Maxilla Space, North Kensington.
Produced in response to the growth of the youth climate strikes in the UK, this new guide from Kids in Museums is designed to help museums support youth climate activism and collaborate with young people on events, exhibitions and debates. It was produced in partnership with Climate Museum UK, the Happy Museum Project and Julie's Bicycle.
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Arts and Minds workshops in schools (Image courtesy of Sheila Ceccarelli)
The APPG for Arts, Health & Wellbeing, Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance and Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network have partnered to publish a briefing for Integrated Care System planning.
The Directors of Age of Creativity and the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance have co-written a new article for Age UK's magazine, EngAGE.
Read the article here (p.16)
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Image by Ben Gregory
The Slow GIF Movement seeks to make online space more inclusive with gently looping GIFs.
Rhiannon Armstrong, supported by The Space and Unlimited, is pleased to announce the launch of The Slow GIF Movement on 15 August 2019, to coincide with National Relaxation Day.
The National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance has published new guidance for artists and arts organisations interested in working in criminal justice settings, Enhancing arts and culture in criminal justice settings – a partnership approach.
The Health Foundation has published an assessment of the Prevention Green Paper by David Finch.
The final regional dissemination events for Creative Health were held in Reading on 2nd May and in Ipswich on 16th May. You can watch the Reading event on YouTube and find out more about both in the APPG Annual Report (see below).
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Arts and Minds workshops in schools (Image courtesy of Sheila Ceccarelli)
"Fullscope" brings together seven organisations who support mental wellbeing in children and/or young people in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Fullscope is a 3-year programme to improve provision, establish clearer opportunity pathways, and have national significance in influencing the sector as a whole.
The Fullscope consortium is:
The APPG for Arts, Health & Wellbeing and Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance have produced new guidance for for STP and ICS Planning, available here.
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We envisage a country transformed by its culture and at the same time, constantly transforming it: a truly creative nation in which we all can play our part. (Shaping the Next Ten Years: Draft strategy for consultation, p.6)
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Climate protests on Waterloo Bridge, April 2019
We invite members' comments on our draft declaration and resources. Read more here
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Elaine Bedell, Chief Executive of the South Bank Centre, introduces the Creative Health conference
Over 500 events later and Creativity & Wellbeing Week is officially a national festival...
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The Culture, Health and Wellbeing international conference (CHW21) is on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd June 2021.
During the global crisis, the arts and creativity have helped us navigate uncertainty and been agents of hope. The conference will provide a space for exploring our individual and collective experiences and articulating a vision for the future. Our conference themes are Inequality, Power and Sustainability.
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Joseph Mallord William Turner
'Look at Paintings', a free website which innovatively partners techniques of Mindful meditation with Art Appreciation, with the aim of producing immediate benefits to the viewer, has now gone live.
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Creative Industries Federation logo
The Creative Industries Federation and Arts Council England have together launched a new report, Public Investment, Public Gain. The report makes case for the central role that public investment in arts and culture plays generating commercial returns across the economy.
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Creative Health CIC’s Still Lively Programme (Celebrating Age, ACE/Baring Foundation), image by Ming De Nasty
Wednesday 26 June is National Writing Day, led by First Story - a national literacy charity, working with 55 partner organisations. #nationalwritingday
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The Life Zone Gallery at Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds
The Art Fund's new Calm and Collected report has set out the ways in which museums could - and already do - impact our wellbeing. The report is based on a survey of over 2,500 adults in the UK, as well as a small number of in-depth interviews. It assesses rising levels of stress and anxiety across the UK, and the difficulties we have in creating space for ourselves.
A new £62 million fund has been announced by Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright. The fund will support heritage in high streets. The funding includes:
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Messages left on the grass wall in 'Nature Calls' - the finale exhibition of Paintings in Hospitals 'Art in Large Doses' project - Photo by Glenn Michael Harper
Friday 17 May, Newcastle Centre for Life
In January 2018, Perspectivesin Public Health published a Special Issue on Arts, Health & Wellbeing focusing on the content of presentations from the Culture, Health & Wellbeing International Conference held in Bristol in June, 2017.
Te Ora Auaha: Creative Wellbeing Alliance was launched launched in April 2019 by Carmel Sepuloni, New Zealand Minister of Social Development and Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage. Te Ora Auaha: Creative Wellbeing Alliance Aotearoa is made up of individuals, groups and organisations across the arts, health, youth, social and education sectors.
Creative Freedom has published a Manifesto for Mental Health in Arts Professional to address the difficulties of maintaining mental health in creative and cultural careers. Colin Beesting, founder of Creative Freedom, says
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Breathe Arts Health Research, Melodies for Mums 2018 - photo by Leigha Fearon
A sincere thank you to everyone who filled out the Alliance's annual survey. You can find a summary report here. In total 99 people filled out the annual survey. We do not have permission to share comments publicly, so we have just included statistics here.
Responses to Arts Council England’s strategic proposals for 2020-2030 have been published by the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance, the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance, and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing. A number of the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance’s partners are also signatories on its response.
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Framing the Future, Paintings in Hospitals
What is the past, present and future role of arts in health?
As part of Paintings in Hospitals' 60th anniversary celebrations, the organisation is convening a panel to consider the past pioneers and future innovations of visual arts in health and social care.
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Susie Tate projects, photo by Carrie Calvert
A new national network has been set up for anyone who takes responsibility for arts, heritage and design in hospitals. The group is being hosted by the NHS national performance advisory group and letters will be sent to all hospital arts managers in the UK and all NHS trusts for people to sign up.
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Fabric Lenny (made for the Cultures of Health and Wellbeing conference 21-22 March)2019
We are thrilled that over 3,600 of you have signed up to be members of the Alliance and receive this monthly bulletin. This is our first annual survey. To help us support you, please fill out this short survey, which covers general questions about the Alliance, its new website and the bulletin.
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Tin Arts performing at Cultures of Health & Wellbeing (21-22 March 2019, Great North Museum: Hancock)
The Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance's first annual conference ended with a bang - a whole load of bangs in fact - on 21 and 22nd March at Great North Museum: Hancock, with a performance from The Lawnmowers Beat This!
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David Shrigley
Alex Coulter, Director of Arts & Health South West, continues to provide the secretariat and project management for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing (APPG), on behalf of the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance.
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Errol Francis delivering his keynote at Cultures of Health and Wellbeing
The Alliance ‘s first annual conference, Cultures of Health and Wellbeing was held at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums in Newcastle on the 21st and 22nd March 2019.
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David Shrigley, Sing Your Song
London Arts in Health Forum and the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance are working together to expand Creativity and Wellbeing Week into a national event, building on its enormous success across London. Creativity and Wellbeing Week 2019 will run from 10-16 June 2019.