Evidence

The World Health Organisation has released a report consolidating global evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and wellbeing, with a particular focus on the WHO European Region

64 Million Artists, the organisation behind The January Challenge, have revealed the clinical research results into their online creativity projects

King’s College London and UCL have launched the world’s largest ever study into the impact and scalability of arts interventions on physical and mental health

The University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine and ArtPlace America has released the white paper, Creating Healthy Communities through Cross-sector Collaboration

From 2020, the Baring Foundation will change the theme for its arts funding from arts and older people to arts and mental health. This year the Foundation wants to explore the state of the field throughout the UK, and next January will publish a scoping / mapping study to launch its new programme (drawing on the model of 2009's Ageing Artfully).

The Music for Healthy Lives Research and Practice Network is a collaboration between Nordoff Robbins and Leeds University, created to develop further evidence to support existing knowledge in this area, to promote and connect music practitioners to healthcare providers; and to increase cooperation and collaboration between members of the network.

The network's objectives are:

In a speech at the King’s Fund on 6 November, Matt Hancock focused heavily on the role of creativity and culture in social prescribing and across the health spectrum.

Acknowledging the work of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing, he said:

The recently released loneliness strategy includes a commitment to expand social prescribing and states that the "Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will work with Arts Council England to address loneliness through its programmes, as well as utilising the loneliness measure in its work. Alongside this, the department will raise awareness of the role that libraries can play, including through Libraries Week".

Arts Professional are conducting a survey of pay in the cultural sector with a view to creating a comprehensive evidence that supports efforts to increase equality and diversity in the sector.

Read more

To kick-start the autumn, LAHF has commissioned a series of blogs about the future of arts and health which we will be publishing daily over the next 2 weeks. The blogs, from leading practitioners working across the spectrum of creativity and wellbeing ask where this work is heading and what challenges and opportunities might open up in the year ahead. The blog series will begin on Monday 10th September and a new blog will be published each weekday until 21st September.