Alex Coulter

Director of Arts & Health South West

Regional representative for the National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing

www.ahsw.org.uk

www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk

Activate, Dance Generations, Abbeyfield Care Home, Live Music Now Good Times project, Dulwich Picture Gallery

Where does arts and health work happen?

Royal Gloucestershire Hospital Perranporth Surgery, Arts for Health Cornwall & Isles of Scilly

hospitals – community centres – care homes – GP surgeries – galleries and museums – schools – prisons…….

Insider Art, Devon Desperate Men Theatre Company ArtCare, Salisbury District Hospital

Yeovil District Hospital REACH Devon Soundings

• Activities involving the arts with an intended health or wellbeing outcome?• Defining boundaries – ‘define or be defined’ – does it matter?

What defines it as arts and health work?

How we access health services

Wellbeing and preventing ill health before we need to access services

Artform Health conditions

Health settings Health Arts Other sectors

Demographic

Dance Mental GP Surgery Primary Participatory Libraries Pre-natal

Theatre Addiction Acute hospital Acute Arts Therapies

Museums Early Years

Literature Depression Community hospital

Public Public Arts Voluntary sector

Children & Young People

Film & Digital

Psychosis Mental health units

Mental Community Arts

Education Adults

Visual arts Dementia Prisons Disability Arts Local Authority

Older People

Crafts Physical Community venues

BME

Design Diabetes Residential Care

Urban

Inter-disciplinary

Cancer Hospices Rural

Music Obesity Gypsies & Travellers

• Arts & Health South West is an information, support and advocacy organisation for people who believe in the value of creativity in enhancing people’s health and wellbeing

• Launched in 2006

• Membership organisation – 900 members including health organisations and individual health professionals, arts organisations, academics, practitioners, therapists, educationalists

• Since 2010 free to join

• Funded by Arts Council England Grants for the Arts 2006 – 2012; ACE National Portfolio funding 2012-15

National developments

• Department of Health and Arts Council England joint prospectus for Arts and Health 2007

• “hospitals and other care settings that pay close attention to the overall physical environment for patients achieve real improvements in the health of patients… Access and participation in the arts are an essential part of our everyday wellbeing and quality of life.” Alan Johnson: September 2008

• Launch of National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing 2012

• A Charter for Arts, Health and Wellbeing

• Culture, Health and Wellbeing international conference June 2013

Role of the National Alliance for Arts Health and Wellbeing

• Advocacy and raising awareness– Public– Clinicians and providers– Decision makers and funders

• National work– A coordinated national voice– Links to other national bodies with shared priorities– Lobbying at a policy level

• Research and resources– An ‘intelligent hub’ to develop and refine sector resources– Training and CPD– Sharing knowledge and research

Structure of the National Alliance for Arts Health and Wellbeing

• Charity • Not a membership organisation but an alliance of organisations• Representatives from the 9 regions of England

– Arts & Health South West– London Arts in Health Forum– We Do (Open Art) (Yorkshire and Humberside)– West Midlands Arts Health and Wellbeing– Arts Derbyshire (East Midlands)– South East Arts and Health Partnership– Centre for Medical Humanities Durham University (North East)– Arts for Health Manchester (North West)

Healthy and Creative Ageing

Global Health Inequalities and Culture

Culture and the Social Determinants of Wellbeing

Research

•The latest research and new methodologies

•The dissemination of international research and evaluation

Policy

•Local, regional, national, and international policy development

•Developing national and international collaborations and networks

Practice

•Museums and Health

•Arts in healthcare settings

•Arts and health promotion/prevention

Future Developments

• All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts and Health

• UK Arts and Health Research Network

• Culture, Health and Wellbeing International Forum