In the UK, A New National Alliance for Culture, Health and Wellbeing

Image: National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing.

Fostering cross-sector collaboration is a key focus of our advocacy at the BC Alliance. So we are encouraged by the formation in the UK of the National Alliance for Culture, Health and Wellbeing.

The new national membership organization, which held its official launch this week, aims to provide a clear, focused voice to articulate the role creativity can play in health and wellbeing.

The Alliance will act as a hub for information and research on arts and health work and advocate on behalf of this work. 

"This is a rapidly expanding field with many museums and cultural organisations now developing programmes designed to support health and wellbeing," says an article in The Reader. The new Alliance will encourage good practice, connecting healthcare providers, commissioners and clinicians with cultural [organizations] to deliver the best possible opportunities for everyone to benefit from the health and wellbeing impact of high quality cultural experiences."  

In Canada, national organizations that champion arts engagement for health and wellbeing include Canadian Art Therapy Association and Canadian Association for Music Therapy. The Vancouver-based Arts Health Network Canada, which operated for seven years, shut down in June 2017.