Mapping of Initiatives on Culture, Health and Well-being

MusicAlive was established in 2009 and it’s purpose is to provide access to high quality, participative based programmes. in mental health and older age community and health care contexts. Their programme the Road of Life is a travelling roadshow of workshops that is offering to older people taster music & song writing sessions. Musician Ger Wolfe is leading a mini tour of eight counties in the West region of Ireland, incorporating literature and proverbs linked to older age. The participants have an opportunity to input to the sessions through singing and sharing stories that stir people’s memories and imagination. The sessions incorporate a taster song writing & composition section and aim to work on ‘sketches of songs’ that might be inspired by local proverbs, expressions or stories. This initiative is part of the programme between Age Friendly Ireland and Creative Ireland Programme, delivering creative initiatives to support health and wellbeing in older age.

Kirklees Museums and Galleries commissioned a short film Well-being Stories (3mins and 30secs) which highlights the unique role that Kirklees Museums and Galleries can play in supporting local people to manage their own health and well-being. Examples showcased in the film include Mindfulness sessions using the collections as inspiration and the Museum in a Box programme which provides multi-sensory resources to trigger memories and encourage conversations. This important advocacy tool also demonstrates to decision makers and stakeholders how a high quality volunteer programme can improve confidence and provide opportunities for people to connect.

Outside In provides a platform for artists who see themselves as facing barriers to the art world due to health, disability, social circumstance or isolation. Outside In’s work covers three main areas: Artist development, exhibitions and training. These activities, supported by fundraising and communications, all aim to create a fairer art world by supporting artists, creating opportunities and educating organisations.

The MET project aims to develop a methodology for therapy through theatrical tools, with an effect at the neurochemical and neurocognitive levels. In collaboration with our partners, we use behavioral, electrophysiological, biochemical and imaging techniques, to determine how minimalist theatrical practices impact stress level and social closeness.
The scientific hypothesis of the project is that theatre practices modulate neuronal activity and plasticity by controlling the secretion of the neuro-hormones oxytocin and cortisol, and by adjusting the activity of the immune system. We believe that via these physiological changes, theatre therapies could induce pro-social behaviours, reduce stress, and increase the overall well-being of individuals.
The project was completed in 2021 with more than 11 experiments and 1300 subjects from which 200 of them participated in groups were the resulting procedure was applied. The procedures showed strongest results for subjects with PTSD reducing stress experienced levels and promoting prosocialness but also for elderly people promoting closeness towards trainer in the methodology. The techniques used in the methodology are mirroring, role-play and autobiographical memory retrieval. The results of the project have been published in peer reviewed journals like Neuro Image or Frontiers in Psychology. 3 minutes of social mirroring significantly increased salivary oxytocin behaviour a neurohormone involved in bond formation with correlated changes as observed through EEG . Memory retrieval increased DMN connectivity and role play increased prosocial attitudes and positive emotions and decreased anxiety levels.
The conclusions of the MET validation are based on the research activities applied on a total number of 1274 subjects, monitored by the four evaluation techniques already mentioned (biochemical measurements, electroencephalogram, magnetic resonance imaging and psycho-behavioral tests).

Art on Tour in Healthcare works as an art education programme, bringing art to people in their everyday lives. Sensory experiences are fundamental to the health and more and more research results show that culture is good for people to feel good. Beneficiaries of the healthcare services who cannot seek out culture themselves need help with this. In 2009 it was started the Art package on tour in elderly care. Art packages in elderly care programme are boxes containing art by various artists from Örebro county who go on tour around the municipality's elderly homes. In this way, the art becomes available even for those who have difficulty getting to art galleries, galleries and museums.

The project implies that teenage girls with recurrent psychosomatic disorders can improve their health by participating in unpretentious dancing twice a week, without focusing on performance. The Stockholm Region offers support for succeeding in starting collaborations in the dance method as an initiative for young people's mental health. To date, the Stockholm Region has subsidized 40 training places in the initiative Dance without Requirements through the Competence Center for Culture and Health. They produced a handbook for municipalities that want to start up Dance without requirements programme and help to match dance instructors and municipalities when needed.

Kre-health is a tool for increased public health and employment, a path to increased self-awareness and context through own creation and cultural experiences. With creative expressions and creative processes as tools, the healthy is strengthened. A strengthened individual has an easier time facing society's challenges, whether it is about exclusion, stress or illness. The Kre-health model has been created because cultural activities contribute to positive effects on a physiological, biological and emotional level by increasing creativity and creating a sense of meaning and connection. It also improves memory capacity, speeds up learning, creates new connections between the brain's various networks and stimulates emotions and behaviors that make life easier to live.
Kre-health is a conceptualized training program with art and culture as tools to strengthen the individual's self-awareness and sense of meaning and context with the aim of promoting health and employment. Kre-health can inspire those who want to learn more about the connection between culture and health or who want to take responsibility for their own health and participate in health-promoting activities. The exercise program is suitable for people who are unemployed, on sick leave or at risk of mental illness, stress and burnout. The Kre-health program consists of ten meetings and has been implemented with good results in the county.
The training program was developed with the support of EU funds and in collaboration with Skådebanan Dalarna and Finsam Samordningsförbund Falun and Västerbergslagen.

The project Skåneleden Konst | In Motion is a broad program at the intersection of movement, art and health, started with the public work of art placed in the countryside in the municipalities of Kristianstad, Kävlinge and Ängelholm. In the first phase, a method was developed in dialogue with artists and officials from various administrations about how the municipalities can work with public art outside the cities. The goal was to establish three works of art in connection with the Skåneleden to strengthen places to visit, local identity and public health. Through movement, art experiences and pedagogical activities aimed at the school, the project's ambition is to contribute to counteracting the widespread mental illness among young people. In the spring of 2021, there was launched an open call for artists to design walks that involve young people's participation along the trails in the municipalities.

The Gävleborg County Museum has various health-promoting activities to counteract mental illness. Participants can take part in the museum's exhibitions and then create and reflect on themselves and their lives. The Gävleborg County Museum uses, among other things, art and cultural history as a starting point in health-promoting activities for various groups and they worked for several years with different groups towards a feeling-good perspective. This may involve children and young people within the autism spectrum, young people with mental illness and adults with exhaustion syndrome and/or mild depression. The purpose of the activities is, among other things, to help people return to a more active life and a social context. Many people on sick leave become isolated or isolate themselves. It easily becomes a vicious circle that can be difficult to break. Participating in various cultural activities together with others in a similar situation can be a help back to a more active life. Some of the projects are:
Foyer X | Community art in Gävleborg - a project with the aim of creating a regional and national platform for community art. With the help of various art forms, such as theater, writing and more, people can tell and shape their own stories, in words, images and on stage.
Avtryck - a project where young people from three places in Sweden worked with themes such as the place, the self and the future
Imprint - is a performance where young people stood on stage and spoke bravely and openly about their lives.

Residency of Well-Being | Creativity in Togetherness is a new initiative of the CAC Education and Community Engagement team, which aims to increase the accessibility of contemporary art among culturally excluded groups. During the residency, artists collaborate with social and/or health care institutions (youth centres, orphanages, hospitals, nursing homes), establishing dialogues and inviting different agents to engage in joint creative activities. The participants of this year’s residency are contemporary artists Milda Januševičiūtė and Simona Žemaitytė and the residents of the Addere Care nursing home. Throughout the residency, the artists collaborate with the mentors and curators of the institutions involved to plan and implement creative activities for the target audience. This project, in collaboration with Addere Care, is planned to continue in 2023, inviting artists to submit their proposals for next year’s residency.
Participants in the residency:
- Milda Januševičiūtė (b. 1990) is a Vilnius-based artist and cultural sociologist. Her field of interest includes interdisciplinary projects in which she explores themes of caring, emotional health and other sociological issues.
- Simona Žemaitytė (b. 1984) is an artist and filmmaker working between London and Vilnius. Her work has been awarded at the 15th Tallinn Print Triennial and nominated for several prizes in the Sheffield Documentary Film Festival. Her work has been presented at Central Gallery (Birmingham), Kasa Gallery (Istanbul), Galata Perform (Istanbul), RichMix (London), Oberhausen Festival, Kaunas Biennial and the Contemporary Art Centre (Vilnius), among other institutions and events. Žemaitytė is currently studying for a PhD and teaching at Vilnius Academy of Arts.