Peter Bazalgette’s recent call to boost the nation’s health through participation in the arts has prompted sector professionals to explore how museums can lead the debate around the benefits of culture for individual and community wellbeing.
Many museums have been undertaking groundbreaking work in areas such as dementia and mental health for some time.
But Bazalgette, the chairman of Arts Council England, in a recent article in the Guardian, asked for this activity to have a higher profile among politicians and policymakers.
Higher profile
“In the debate about the NHS running up to the next election, let us make sure the case for arts and wellbeing is heard,” Bazalgette wrote.
But Gavin Clayton, the executive director of Arts & Minds, a Cambridge-based arts and mental health charity, says: “I am not sure how realistic it is to expect these issues to feature in the NHS debate before the election. Ministers are unlikely to stick their heads above the parapet and to prioritise the message that arts and culture can save money and impact positively on the health of the nation.”
Clayton believes, however, that museums can engage with the wellbeing agenda by exploring fresh initiatives. These include negotiating discounts and launching Friends schemes with small innovative charities that can introduce new audiences to museums and galleries through projects such as Arts on Prescription.
This is an Arts & Minds scheme in Cambridgeshire that features a series of weekly art workshops for people experiencing moderate depression and anxiety.
Jocelyn Dodd, the director of the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries at the University of Leicester, also identified key issues in her article in last month’s Museums Journal.
She said that museums must be mindful of changes to public health in the UK, including the role of health and wellbeing boards, which were introduced in 2012 as a forum where health leaders could work together to improve the wellbeing of their local populations and reduce health inequalities.
Museums, Dodd argued, can seize the initiative through their work with specific audiences. “Museums are not places the health sector would naturally turn to, so demonstrating relevance and the range of opportunities they can give the sector is critical,” Dodd wrote.
Crucially, medical and museum professionals believe that arts-based initiatives have a positive impact. Simon Barber, the chief executive of the Warrington-based 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, says: “The creative arts can help people develop emotional resilience.
“I would encourage more clinicians to explore partnerships as a way of benefitting patients’ mental wellbeing.”
Twofold contribution
Mark O’Neill, the director of policy and research at Glasgow Life, the trust that runs museums for the city council, says: “There are two levels of contribution of museums to wellbeing: general attendance and participation in activities.
“My interest in the former is due to the implication that museums need to continue to do much more to encourage visits from people who are most likely to suffer from ill-health [people living in poverty or suffering some form of exclusion].”
O’Neill points to a 2013 report from the Scottish government, The Impact of Cultural Engagement and Sports Participation on Health and Satisfaction with Life in Scotland. This concludes that “those who attended a cultural place or event were almost 60% more likely to report good health compared with those who did not attend”.
But crucially, will the case be made for further integration of the arts and health sectors before the election?
“Culture plays such a powerful role in people’s lives that those engaging with it become healthier,” O’Neill says. “If the government is serious about shifting investment from treatment to prevention, it has to take culture seriously.”
Manchester Museum and the Whitworth Art Gallery established the Arts for Health initiative in 2008. It delivers projects and programmes in collaboration with the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust.
These include:
Coffee, Cake and Culture
A monthly programme of activities for adults with dementia in care homes. “[The initiative] gives carers things to talk about with residents and it helps them bond and builds relationships,” said a project worker.
Culture Shots
An annual week-long takeover of Central Manchester University Hospitals in which museums from across the city, led by the Whitworth and Manchester Museum, run workshops, activities and events for NHS staff and their visitors.
Meanwhile, a new role at the Whitworth Art Gallery, the cultural park keeper, will co-develop wellbeing schemes in partnership with health providers and community groups.
The post will be supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for the next three years.
Many museums have been undertaking groundbreaking work in areas such as dementia and mental health for some time.
But Bazalgette, the chairman of Arts Council England, in a recent article in the Guardian, asked for this activity to have a higher profile among politicians and policymakers.
Higher profile
“In the debate about the NHS running up to the next election, let us make sure the case for arts and wellbeing is heard,” Bazalgette wrote.
But Gavin Clayton, the executive director of Arts & Minds, a Cambridge-based arts and mental health charity, says: “I am not sure how realistic it is to expect these issues to feature in the NHS debate before the election. Ministers are unlikely to stick their heads above the parapet and to prioritise the message that arts and culture can save money and impact positively on the health of the nation.”
Clayton believes, however, that museums can engage with the wellbeing agenda by exploring fresh initiatives. These include negotiating discounts and launching Friends schemes with small innovative charities that can introduce new audiences to museums and galleries through projects such as Arts on Prescription.
This is an Arts & Minds scheme in Cambridgeshire that features a series of weekly art workshops for people experiencing moderate depression and anxiety.
Jocelyn Dodd, the director of the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries at the University of Leicester, also identified key issues in her article in last month’s Museums Journal.
She said that museums must be mindful of changes to public health in the UK, including the role of health and wellbeing boards, which were introduced in 2012 as a forum where health leaders could work together to improve the wellbeing of their local populations and reduce health inequalities.
Museums, Dodd argued, can seize the initiative through their work with specific audiences. “Museums are not places the health sector would naturally turn to, so demonstrating relevance and the range of opportunities they can give the sector is critical,” Dodd wrote.
Crucially, medical and museum professionals believe that arts-based initiatives have a positive impact. Simon Barber, the chief executive of the Warrington-based 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, says: “The creative arts can help people develop emotional resilience.
“I would encourage more clinicians to explore partnerships as a way of benefitting patients’ mental wellbeing.”
Twofold contribution
Mark O’Neill, the director of policy and research at Glasgow Life, the trust that runs museums for the city council, says: “There are two levels of contribution of museums to wellbeing: general attendance and participation in activities.
“My interest in the former is due to the implication that museums need to continue to do much more to encourage visits from people who are most likely to suffer from ill-health [people living in poverty or suffering some form of exclusion].”
O’Neill points to a 2013 report from the Scottish government, The Impact of Cultural Engagement and Sports Participation on Health and Satisfaction with Life in Scotland. This concludes that “those who attended a cultural place or event were almost 60% more likely to report good health compared with those who did not attend”.
But crucially, will the case be made for further integration of the arts and health sectors before the election?
“Culture plays such a powerful role in people’s lives that those engaging with it become healthier,” O’Neill says. “If the government is serious about shifting investment from treatment to prevention, it has to take culture seriously.”
A healthy practice
Manchester Museum and the Whitworth Art Gallery established the Arts for Health initiative in 2008. It delivers projects and programmes in collaboration with the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust.
These include:
Coffee, Cake and Culture
A monthly programme of activities for adults with dementia in care homes. “[The initiative] gives carers things to talk about with residents and it helps them bond and builds relationships,” said a project worker.
Culture Shots
An annual week-long takeover of Central Manchester University Hospitals in which museums from across the city, led by the Whitworth and Manchester Museum, run workshops, activities and events for NHS staff and their visitors.
Meanwhile, a new role at the Whitworth Art Gallery, the cultural park keeper, will co-develop wellbeing schemes in partnership with health providers and community groups.
The post will be supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for the next three years.