Arts and health

Abstract

Interest in the value of the arts for health promotion and healthcare has grown considerably over the last twenty years throughout the world. The use of arts for health is not the same as creative arts therapies in which trained practitioners engage with individuals in a therapeutic process through the arts in clinical settings, although arts therapy practice is itself changing to embrace more of a community dimension. Art for health in contrast is based on the idea that exposure to the arts, and more importantly, participation in creative activities, is life-enhancing and can promote wellbeing. In healthcare settings the arts can contribute to enhancing the healing environment, and help to promote recovery and rehabilitation. In community settings, participation in arts activities brings people together with a sense of purpose in a common creative endeavour. Participation in creative arts activity by people with existing physical and mental health challenges is certainly regarded as 'therapeutic' but it is not 'therapy' in a formal sense, and the emphasis is on the intrinsic value and quality of the creative process and what it produces. As one might expect, given the involvement of arts practitioners, the field of arts and health is itself creative and dynamic, and this is reflected in the wealth of practical initiatives co-created by health professionals and artists. For the UK, the best current source of information about activities in this field is the recently established 'Culture and Wellbeing' website, set up by the London Arts and Health Forum with funding from Arts Council England. This site provides excellent case studies of some of the very best initiatives in the UK, showing how the main arts forms - music, theatre/ drama, visual arts, dance and literature/ creative writing - can serve to promote health. Long-standing charitable organisations, such as Music in Hospitals and Paintings in Hospitals, help to enliven the hospital environment and engage patients and staff alike in activities which enhance wellbeing, and provide distractions from the anxieties associated with illness. Community initiatives like the East Kent 'Singing for Health' Network Project, have created choirs for people with a history of mental health challenges, together with family supporters and health professionals. The theatre company 'Ladder to the Moon' has created dramas to address social care issues associated with dementia, and the 'Big Difference Company' has used drama to explore a range of health issues such as teenage pregnancy and smoking with young people. Some of the projects profiled are quite unexpected. 'Arts for Health' in Manchester for example, is currently working with the 'Asia Europe Foundation' to explore how governments, private business and civil society should best prepare for future pandemic threats. Alongside this flowering of creative endeavours in the arts and health field, there has been growing attention given to developing the evidence base. Does participation in the arts and creative activities really give rise to measurable health benefits? Is there any evidence that arts interventions are not only effective, but cost-effective too? …