Review

American think tank Createquity has collated and reviewed research into the health benefits of the arts. The organisation has come up with a list of areas where they identify the evidence for the impact of the arts on wellbeing is strong.

The review of research into arts and wellbeing focuses on the benefits of the arts on a range of different wellbeing impact areas: physical and mental health, education and personal development, economic vitality, and social cohesion. The researchers are highly confident that:

Arts Council England has published the Culture Change Guide, a toolkit to support arts organisations in developing a diverse workforce and leadership.

The guide contains case studies and best practice examples from the arts and culture sector and beyond, with guidance on how to recruit and support diverse talent in an organisation, and how to capture and use diversity data.

There are six guides, each is a downloadable PDF:

A new report has presented a comprehensive picture of the health and behaviours of Britain’s 11.7 million young people aged 10-24. It offers detailed data to support commissioners and organisations seeking to improve young people’s health and wellbeing.

A major, new review of museums has called for better collaboration across the sector to maximise museums’ social impact. The review cites the significant impact museums can have on the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has launched a telephone advice line to help charities and small organisations prepare for the new data-protection law the General Data Protection Regulation which comes into force next April.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show an increase in reported wellbeing for people in England.

The report - based on interviews with 100,000 people covered the period June 2016-June 2017. It showed that average ratings of life satisfaction, feeling that the things we do in life are worthwhile and happiness have increased slightly in the UK and improvements in life satisfaction, worthwhile and happiness ratings in the UK were driven by England, the only country where average ratings across these measures improved.

The Clore Leadership Programme, together with a consortium of trusts and foundations, has commissioned an independent review of the governance development needs of arts organisations and museums. 

The aim of the review is to strengthen the governance of arts and museums by identifying resources which are currently available and gaps in provision which might be addressed through a governance development programme, tailored to the needs of arts organisations and museums. The review has been authored by Hilary Carty, David Bryan and Anne Murch from Co-Creatives Consulting Ltd.

The Creative Industries Federation has published a report looking at the experiences of freelancers working in the arts. Nearly half of the creative workers in the creative industries - 47 per cent - are freelance compared with 15 per cent across the workforce as a whole.

The report draws on evidence from 700 freelancers and around 50 organisations that use them to demonstrate who these workers are and what they do for creative economy.

The Department of Health and the Care Quality Commission have published a review of adult social care.

To read more, go to: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adult-social-care-quality-mat...

Arts Council Wales is conducting a survey of existing arts and health activity to inform its approach to health and wellbeing in the future. The survey will detail the nature, scope and logistics of recent, current and future arts and health project. ACW is also inviting responses from those with a professional interest in arts and health, but who do not have a specific project to report on.