Welcome to Arts Health and Wellbeing

Mosaic
Poetry
Patient on harp
Healing Arts image
Ladder to the Moon - South Pacific
Lime - artist - Suki Chan Radcliffe Primary Health Care Centre
Nordoff Robbins
Arts @ Callington Road. Image by Paul Highnam’

Welcome to the website of the new National Alliance for Arts Health and Wellbeing.

This is a space where you can find out more about the impact of creativity on health and wellbeing. It includes a database of research on the ways the arts benefit health, examples of arts in health projects from across England and links to organisations working in this area.

What is Arts in Health?

Ladder to the Moon - South Pacific
Music in Hospitals
MMU - workshop organisers and participants
Healing Arts

There is now an overwhelming body of evidence demonstrating that participation in the arts and access to a range of arts opportunities can dramatically improve health outcomes and increase wellbeing. By supplementing medicine and care, the arts can improve the health of people who experience mental or physical health problems. Engaging in the arts can promote prevention of disease and build wellbeing.

Resources

Wall mural being painted

The arts have been linked to wellbeing for thousands of years. The Ancient Greeks and Chinese linked health to creativity and the arts and for hundreds of years, artists have been involved in exploring health and creating work in and for healthcare environments.

Case Study

The Odds
“Doctor, Doctor!” – using the arts to improve public health and address health inequalities across the UK

Big Difference Company has experience of designing and delivering a wide range of projects which improve the health and well being of people across the UK.  Our “Doctor, Doctor!” programme includes projects which explore issues such as teenage pregnancy, men’s health, smoking and healthy living amongst young people. 

Read more
The case study above is randomly selected. See more Arts in Health in Practice.
Supported by the Arts Council England