Culture, Health and Wellbeing

This international conference will showcase inspirational practice, policy and the latest research in culture and arts in health and wellbeing. It will discuss the role of arts and creativity in healing, care and wellbeing across the life course. It will encourage discussion and shared learning, facilitating dialogue between researchers, policy makers and practitioners.

This year’s conference will take place in Bristol, at City Hall and the Watershed.

The conference themes will encompass multiple art forms and will include:

• Reducing inequalities
• Promoting resilience, prevention and early intervention
• Improving mental health and wellbeing
• Creative ageing
• Specific health conditions and care pathways including palliative care
• Community and social development in different international contexts
• Designing for wellbeing – services, environments, products
• Museums, heritage and health
• Developing national and international networks
• Models and frameworks for co-production, commissioning, delivery and evaluation
• Training, education and professional development
• Open theme

Keynote speakers

• Duncan Selbie, CEO of Public Health England
• Dr Nayreen Daruwalla, Programme Director for Prevention of Violence against Women and Children, will speak about the Dharavi Biennale in Mumbai (India)
• Rt Hon Lord Howarth of Newport CBE, will present the findings of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing’s Inquiry (UK)
• Fred Foote, doctor,veteran and poet, will talk about his work with veterans and poetry (USA)
• Dr Iona Heath, former President of the Royal College of General Practitioners (UK)
• Blood Sugars performance from the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (South Africa)

Download the conference flyer (PDF)

“I hold strongly that the arts can enhance wellbeing and health and that more needs to be done through public policy to ensure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to benefit from the life-enhancing and therapeutic experience of the arts. We need to learn from best practice in this fields across the world.”

– Lord Howarth of Newport

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