Wellbeing

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) has opened the nomination process for its annual Health & Wellbeing Awards. The awards include a category for Arts & Health, to recognise organisations whose work has furthered the contribution of the creative arts to health and wellbeing.

The School of Museum Studies (SMS), University of Leicester, as part of Midlands Graduate School is now inviting applications for a fully funded ESRC Doctoral Studentship in association with the University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM), to commence in October 2021.

This project will examine the emerging professional practice of culture-led wellbeing. The aims of the research are:

BRIT award winning artist NAO, and acclaimed rapper/producer Jords have joined the Key Changes “Studio Connect” programme as music industry mentors. The Studio Connect programme is an online service designed to support the mental health needs of vulnerable Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups following the Covid-19 crisis. 

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has published a summary of the evidence collected on the role of arts in improving health and wellbeing. The report examines how arts engagement can impact on social outcomes, youth development and the prevention of mental and physical illness.

The Heritage Alliance has published a report exploring the impact heritage can have on individual and community wellbeing.

The report, Heritage, Health and Wellbeing, examines how existing arts and culture work supports wellbeing. It provides 30 case studies covering a diverse group of activities from club nights put on by a group of disabled adults in Alexandra Palace to yoga in historic houses. Within this context the report makes a series of recommendations to the heritage sector, the health sector, and to government.

This conference aims to address the gap between the arts and play and health and wellbeing fields, encouraging shared learning and asking critical questions that will support a move forward in arts and play with new-found insight. The organisers plan to take a hybrid approach to the conference, with one on-site day at the University of Edinburgh on 16 February and the remainder of the presentations spread across the week online.

Find out further information here. 

Youth Arts Charity Peer Productions has developed a new mini-series, 50 Days: Alone Together, to support teenagers’ mental health, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The series follows the lives of a small class of year 12 pupils as they check in, via video conferencing software, with their form tutor over the first 50 days of lockdown.

The Culture Health & Wellbeing Alliance has published a report and case studies that highlight the scope, breadth and reach of the work that cultural and creative organisations and individuals have been doing since lockdown to reach the most vulnerable.

64 Million Artists are running this series of three webinars exploring the facilitation of online and in-person groups, focusing on co-creative activities and democratic processes. The sessions are relevant for those working in creative, organisational, cultural or community settings, and will explore the issues of group online facilitation during Covid-19 and beyond through a blend of taught material, group exercises and discussion.

Rachel Howfield Massey (Arts and Health Derbyshire) and Laura Phillips (Derby Museums) are hosting the second series of East Midlands CHWA Network Events, via Zoom. This is an opportunity to meet other culture and health practitioners from the region, find out how everyone is doing and think about what is wanted from a regional network. The discussions will be centred around the question: Have we found ways to create intimacy at a distance, particularly in relation to digital poverty?