Mapping of Initiatives on Culture, Health and Well-being

Local History Cafés are community based heritage and well-being get-togethers for nearby residents aged 50 and over experiencing, or at risk of, social isolation and loneliness. Local History Cafes take place on a monthly basis, lasting around 2 and a half hours and comprise of tea and cake over a catch up, a heritage themed presentation and a related activity. The Local History Cafe programme aims to:
- Tackle social isolation and loneliness amongst over 50s through a quality heritage and well-being programme.
- Support heritage and community organisations to learn new skills and use existing skills, experience and assets to tackle these issues.
- Apply an asset-based, partnership approach, supporting collaboration across sectors working on social isolation and loneliness.

Hear and Now is an award-winning intergenerational community arts project developed over the past ten years by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Orchestras Live in Bedford. Hear and Now is a musical collaboration between older people living with dementia and their carers; young singers and instrumentalists from grassroots community organisations and local primary schools; and members of the Philharmonia Orchestra. Through a series of workshops, participants contribute spoken and musical ideas, emotions, movement, memories and ambitions.

An arts engagement programme targeting adults in custody, all of whom experience a range of mental health challenges. Over a period of several months, Soft Touch Arts arts workers worked with groups of prisoners and offenders to facilitate various arts projects with a view to exhibiting their work to the general public. Participants worked on a broad range of themes and in different media, while creating artworks that draw attention away from the usual visual surroundings of the prison environment and create a more peaceful and inspirational mood.
The Unlocked exhibition was a collection of works created by men serving sentences at HMP Leicester, HMP Stocken, and the now-closed HMP Glen Parva, as well as those who have completed their sentences and returned to their communities. The results were on display at Leicester Museum and at Soft Touch Arts.

The core project of Kolkata Sanved -Empowering Lives through Dance- works with diverse marginalised communities in collaboration with the Government, NGOs and community-based organisations. Dance Movement Therapy sessions are conducted in groups at child care institutions run by both the government and local NGOs. Their model was developed to heal and empower individuals from marginalised communities, including survivors of gender-based violence and at-risk children and youth.

STart is a project coordinated by Soft Touch Arts and designed to reach out to young people who feel isolated from the community. The project engages them with art, music and social activities to help build their confidence and develop creative skills and talents. It consists of regular weekly session that takes place on Thursday evenings, running throughout the year at Soft Touch’s youth arts centre. During the sessions young people work on their own creative projects and also get the opportunity to take part in an annual exhibition at Soft Touch which showcases their work.

The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF) is an annual festival led by the Mental Health Foundation Scotland and takes place in May. It aims to support the arts, explore how engagement in the arts can prevent mental health problems, and challenge stigma. SMHAF combines high artistic quality with strong grassroots support, community engagement and social activism. Launched in 2007, SMHAF has grown into one of the largest festivals of its kind in the world, with over 300 events and 25,000 attendees across Scotland each year. Its innovative approach, combining high quality artistic events with community led programming and a social justice agenda, has been replicated internationally.

Culture on Prescription is an Erasmus+ project that aims to prevent and combat social isolation and loneliness through art and culture. Cultural prescribing is the referral of a healthcare professional of lonely and isolated (older) people to locally available art and cultural offerings. It is a social intervention based on “social prescribing” practices, already implemented in the United Kingdom and Ireland with very positive results, and which aims to “prescribe” to participants experiences related to art, culture and social activities as a way to reduce social isolation and loneliness.
The project will introduce cultural activities facilitated by informal learning and training offers for adults. The consortium will develop and implement a study pilot in Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Germany and the Netherlands that aims to validate the Culture on Prescription intervention in these countries.

Plugin is a creative music and well-being project for young people aged 12-25 who face barriers to music-making due to being mental health inpatients or being unable to access community-based provision. It uses accessible music technology to develop skills and creativity, progressing young people onto industry standard software and/or acoustic instruments.

Wavelength is a community-based programme for young people aged 12-18. New participants are recruited each year, signposted from referral partners including local mental health teams, plus schools, music education hubs and other support organisations.

The Art Room is a group intervention that uses art to support children and young people's mental health and well-being. Through creative expression, children and young people can explore their feelings, identity and relationships. Working in mainstream education, the organisers help children and young people grow in confidence and develop the social skills they need to engage in learning and thrive in life. The Art Room is one of the services which Place2Be offers to schools in order to support the well-being of children, young people, families and school staff across the UK.