The National Campaign for the Arts (NCA) has launched its new Arts Index, a snapshot report of the health of England’s arts and culture. The latest edition covers ten years of austerity and reveals how the arts sector’s entrepreneurial response to a decade of decline in public funding, philanthropy and business support is now the very thing that threatens its future.
Canterbury Christ Church University’s Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health has launched a national survey on the measures taken by Singing for Health Groups and Community Choirs to keep singing during the lockdown. The study is gathering information on how online platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Hangouts have been used to help them continue their work.
Singing for Health Groups and Community Choirs provide valuable support to those with long-term health conditions and those with a history of mental health challenges.
A study aimed at understanding the impact of Covid-19 on adult behaviours which contribute most to avoidable deaths in the UK has been launched by the UCL Department of Behavioural Science & Health and the UCL Centre for Behaviour Change. The survey, produced in collaboration with Action on Smoking and Health, Public Health England and Cancer Research UK, examines how the coronavirus pandemic has affected adult tobacco use, nicotine use (vaping), exercise, diet and alcohol use.
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
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.
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:
We are happy to share that, alongside our partners the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance (CHWA), we have re-imagined Creativity & Wellbeing Week 2020.
