From the outset, The Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance is keen to prioritise the perspective of people who have benefitted from the health and wellbeing impact of culture. We have worked with champions to establish The LENs - a network of people with lived experience of health issues who are passionate about the benefits of the arts and cultural engagement. It is a small group at the moment but we would like it to grow and need your help. We are asking people to contribute their stories to the LENs. Stories can be in any form: words, drawings, videos, animations.
In order to support the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance, a network of organisations with shared interests and values has been established to help guide our work and collaborate with us. The group brings together a range of organisations working nationally across the field of culture and wellbeing and we are proud so many significant organisations are backing the new Alliance.
I am delighted to be able to contribute to the first issue of the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance bulletin in my new role as President. We had a very successful launch of the alliance at the Birmingham Museum on 13th March with a moving performance from the Choir With No Name. Some of you will have been in the audience so I won’t repeat what I said in my speech, but would like to say that it seems to me a very significant moment in the development of this field.
We are taking the opportunity to change the LAHF newsletter too - so, from next month, our newsletter will also become monthly and will be more focused on London news. We want to hear from you about events, opportunities, developments and local stories. We will also be expanding the LAHF blog and are keen to hear from you if you would like to contribute. Perhaps there is an aspect of creativity and health that you think is under-explored, or a problem that you think needs addressing.
The launch of the new Alliance marks a key moment for London Arts in Health Forum. For the past six years we have steered the development of the National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing and supported the establishment of the National Alliance for Museums, Health and Wellbeing. Our work will continue, most notably we will be providing a new monthly briefing paper for the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance - this will include policy developments, funding news and national perspectives on the relationship between health and the arts.
Last week the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance launched in Birmingham. This is a new, national organisation representing everyone who believes that cultural engagement and participation can transform our health and wellbeing. The Alliance is the result of the merger of the National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing with the National Alliance for Museums, Health and Wellbeing. It is free to join, you can just sign up here and, in less than a week, more than 1,000 people already have!
King’s College, London is launching a new MSc in Arts in Health from autumn 2019.
The Masters will aim to train people to design, evaluate and research arts interventions in healthcare. The new MSc is due to welcome its first cohort of students at the start of the 2019/20 academic year.
The Mayor of London has unveiled the first £1.35m awards of London Borough of Culture. Waltham Forest is the first borough to be awarded the title - for 2019, followed by Brent for 2020.
In addition, six boroughs - Barking & Dagenham, Camden, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, and Merton - will share a pot of £850,000 for landmark projects, which the boroughs highlighted in their entry bids.
Co-founder of 64 Million Artists and champion for the role of creativity in improving lives, Jo Hunter is seeking support for a new book on creativity and mental wellbeing.
The book will offer guidance on integrating creativity into daily life and the ways in which creative activities can support mental health. The crowdfunding campaign offers opportunities for support starting at £10.
Public Health England has been given the go-ahead to create a world-leading public health science campus at Harlow in Essex.
PHE Harlow, as the site will be known, is expected to employ up to 2,750 people by 2024, with scope for further expansion. The £400m campus will see PHE relocate from facilities at Porton in Wiltshire, Colindale in north London, as well as its central London headquarters to a single centre of excellence for public health research, health improvement and protection. Building work is expected to start in 2019 with phased occupation starting in 2021.
