Mapping of Initiatives on Culture, Health and Well-being

National Gallery UK has a program entitled '5-minute meditation', in which online visitors can take five minutes with Christina Bradstreet from their Learning team to look, slowly, at Redon's dream-like pastel -Ophelia among the Flowers. The National Gallery team recommends finding a quiet spot and watching on 'full screen'.

The program consists of medical clowns visiting the elderly in 31 senior facilities and geriatric wards of hospitals throughout Slovakia. Seniors are not only bothered by declining strength, but they also often face loneliness. In addition, days in hospitals and social services tend to flow slowly and monotonously. Through the Laughter Doesn't Know Age program they bring patients pleasure and encouragement.

Hospital days are associated with worries and difficult issues. The health clowns bring a smile not only to children but also to adults, who are more aware of their health than children. The mission of the clowns has a clear goal: to lighten the atmosphere, to bring new stimuli and to help patients get rid of gloomy thoughts, at least for a while.

A day in the hospital can be difficult this is why at the Red Nose Clowndoctors help heal wounds with medical clowns. Clowns who go through special training visit sick children in hospitals and medical facilities. Their presence will change the atmosphere and bring unexpected lightness. This can help small patients who are trying to recover from their sickness.

The Lovosice Health Days brought lectures with experts, the possibility to have the blood pressure measured, for example, or to have a breast self-examination. They took place in the Lovoš Culture Center and offered the visitors a program for about three hours.

The aim of the project is to raise awareness on the topic of social exclusion, socialize a marginalized group of the population and sensitize the general public to homeless people through the performing arts. The aim is to adapt, rehearse and premiere a play by Russian playwright Daniil Charms, featuring homeless people, people with disabilities, seniors and people with a psychiatric diagnosis. The result of the project is an avant-garde theater, which is performed for the public in Slovakia and abroad.

Dana Dinková used the short story Memento, by Radek John, as a literary model for a dramatic musical and dance theater bringing to stage the problem of drug addiction. Martin, a young man, is sitting in an investigation cell. He is accused of intentional bodily harm resulting in death. The central motif of the story is the personal confession of a man who "went through hell" and found himself at the very bottom. He wonders where drug addiction may lead and whether he can step out of this vicious circle. At the same time, the actors of the story are looking for their own identity, dealing with their sexuality and issues of justice in society.

The Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic ensures the development of cultural needs of disadvantaged groups of the population and creates conditions for financial support of the culture of disadvantaged groups of the population, provides space for promoting equal treatment and equal opportunities in culture. The organizational unit for the subject matter is the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage Culture and Disadvantaged Population Groups, which is established within the cultural heritage section.

The Louis Pasteur University Hospital (UNLP) in Košice is the first in Slovakia to use art to rehabilitate patients. Physiotherapists of the Department of Physiology, Balneology and Medical Rehabilitation (OFBLR) UNLP Košice use tailor-made devices for the rehabilitation of patients. These were invented and produced for them by the artist and new media artist Boris Vaitovič. Parteners in the project, Creative Industry Košice (CIKE), not only contributed to the implementation of the project, but also donated to the hospital complete equipment for the implementation of a modern form of rehabilitation in practice.

The educational format EDU.pn of the Municipal Cultural Center focuses on the active mediation of Piešťany's regional history through creative workshops, professional lectures and art courses. The workshop, entitled Arts and Health, focuses on mental and physical health care. The educational lecture and creative workshop were led by Michaela Košútová Guillaume, who works as a university pedagogue of art and art therapy at the Trnava University in Trnava.