Mapping of Initiatives on Culture, Health and Well-being

Roads of imaginary is a project that creatively supports the process of therapeutic education and autonomy in the face of the disease, of adolescent girls staying in this service. It is integrated into the therapeutic project designed by the caregivers for these young people. At the end of the courses, on Tuesdays in the afternoon, this program offers a group of young girls, the paths of body relaxation, collage, the trace by painting, drawing and/or writing, to gain confidence and autonomy.

Lights of imaginary is a project for women under treatment and post-treatment, who come to this resource place and embrace this creative proposal with great enthusiasm. The program takes place over a cycle of 8 meetings (with prior registration). It is a moment for oneself supported by the benevolence of the group, a parenthesis during the treatments. One Monday afternoon per week, participants are invited to express themselves through creative proposals that require no prior artistic knowledge.

Journey into imagination is a project done for the House of Patients and Relatives, a "resource" place outside the hospital. It has been going on for all these years, in close collaboration with the Institut Curie's care department. The art therapy program offered to patients takes place over a cycle of 8 meetings (with prior registration). Six to seven art therapy cycles are offered each year, accompanying about 60 patients. Within the framework of a supportive group dynamic, one Wednesday morning per week, participants are invited to relax and create with proposals that stimulate energy, imagination, personal resources and allow for self-care.

Imaginary Spaces project was designed to support, through creativity, the hospitalization of adolescents and young adults staying in the Onco-Hematology Department of the Edouard Rist Clinic. Hospitalized for the cancer follow-up care, often far from their families and their homes, this space allows them to take a break and find their bearings. On Thursday afternoons, they are offered a workshop time with activities around plastic creation, graphic design and writing. This program facilitates the following objectives: to explore, to be surprised, to escape and to gain confidence and autonomy.

VR Days Europe brings together professionals from the AV sector, technology, education and business with the following objectives: To unite the European Virtual and Augmented Reality community; To inspire creative minds and increase their capacity to develop new works with VR/AR/MR; To drive business forward and facilitate Business to Business exchanges in EuropeThe VR Days format is unique: focusing solely on VR content, bringing creators together with multiple sectors and investors to boost the content creation and business in this emerging industry. The project has a unique approach: it actively stimulates the production of quality VR content, because the success of the technology relies on content creation. Secondly, it has not only an international but also a much needed cross-sectoral focus, inviting professionals from the creative sector, health care, science, education and enterprise because VR also affects these industries. This opens up new markets and business models for the AV sector, not only across borders but also across sectors.
In addition to these 4 editions, in 2021 the project included a day dedicated to ‘Science, research and healthcare’ about the medical potential of XR. Following the WHO World Mental Health Day, ITW focused on how immersive technologies can help to beat the port-pandemic mental health crisis. How MedTech startup ecosystems like in Heidelberg embrace XR and how immersive technologies, such as those applied by the Amsterdam Skill Center, can be used to fight the projected shortfall of 18 million health workers by 2030 (WHO) and find out the latest insights on the magic combination of psychedelica and VR.

European cooperation project that contributes to preserve and transmit, through arts and culture, birth and maternity traditional knowledge and practices as part of European intangible cultural heritage. The project forsees the implementation of different types of participatory activities, such as the birth cafés, round tables, co-creation workshops, etc. in order to make different audiences (mothers and fathers, health workers, migrant womenm and men, artists, etc.) take part in the design of the exhibition by telling their stories, talking about topics related to birth and maternity, creating cultural materials and artworks, thus internalizing relevant information through practice and direct experience.
With the objective to preserve and transmit, through arts and culture, birth and maternity traditional knowledge and practices as part of European intangible cultural heritage, the project will conduct research on traditions, stories, objects and artworks; organize intercultural birth cafés where women can share their experiences; and invite women’s museums and artists to contribute with stories, objects, artworks and information to a travelling interactive exhibition on the topic of birth and maternity in Europe.

With the material collected, the project will design and create this exhibition, which will be held in the 4 target countries. It will strengthen the capacities of and collaboration between women’s museums in Europe to raise awareness on women’s health and sexual and reproductive rights; enhance intercultural dialogue and artistic co-creation around values and practices related to culture, birth and maternity and compare EU and non-EU practices; improve access of different audiences including migrants to European cultural and creative works and intangible cultural heritage. An online virtual catalogue will reach a wider audience. Migrant and women organizations, medical and non-medical professionals, artists, (migrant) women and men will be the main beneficiaries of the project’s activities, which will be adapted to local context and values, taking into account the diversity and richness of European intangible birth cultures.

Literary translation project aiming to:
1). Support marginalised voices and groups by translating literature of lesser-spoken languages into English that touches on issues of old age, alienation, disability, strained family relations, mental health, suicide, immigration, and displacement.
2). Develop and expand the audience for translated literature from those languages, particularly by building links with academics that teach translation and European Literature and through inclusion of those titles in translation journals and book clubs.
3). Make translated literature more readily available in digital formats through the creation of e-books.

The proposal for this thematic year came from the European Commission and it was adopted by Decision (EU) 2017/864 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017. EYCH was a wide-ranging and inclusive initiative involving all EU institutions, all EU Member States, 9 partner countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Georgia, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), as well as a broad array of cultural stakeholders. In EU Member States and in associated countries it was implemented by National Coordinators designated by the relevant Ministries.
The aim of the European Year was to encourage more people to discover and engage with Europe's cultural heritage, and to reinforce a sense of belonging to a common European space. The general objectives were: to encourage and support the efforts of the Union, the Member States and regional and local authorities, in cooperation with the cultural heritage sector and broader civil society, to protect, safeguard, reuse, enhance, valorise and promote Europe's cultural heritage. It created the momentum for cultural heritage to be placed higher on the EU’s agenda, through an integrated approach.
In order to prepare the European Year, a special edition of the Eurobarometer survey was carried out in late 2017, according to which 71% Europeans agreed that cultural heritage can improve quality of life. The types of actions during EYCH consisted in: initiatives and events to promote debate and raise awareness of the importance and value of cultural heritage and to facilitate engagement with citizens and stakeholders; information, exhibitions, education and awareness-raising campaigns to convey values such as diversity and intercultural dialogue; the sharing of experience and good practices of national, regional and local administrations and other organisations, and the dissemination of information about cultural heritage, including via Europeana; studies and research and innovation activities and the dissemination of their results on a European or national scale; and the promotion of projects and networks connected to the European Year.
EYCH highlighted the contribution of sustainable cultural tourism to urban and regional development and was an opportunity to explore how to balance the sustainability of cultural heritage with the benefits of tourism, not just in economic terms, but also for the well-being of local communities.

Member States’ Ministers of Culture define their priorities for cultural policy making at EU level in multi-annual Work Plans (usually 4 years) adopted in form of conclusions by the Council of the EU. The 2015-2018 Work Plan for Culture was the EU’s second policy cooperation document of this kind, building on the results of the 2011-2014 work plan. It is continued by a new work plan for the 2019-2022 period.
Relevant priorities between 2015-2018 included:
- “Accessible and inclusive culture” (priority area A), which aimed at fostering the contribution of culture to social inclusion. The focus question of this priority was: how can public policies encourage and support cultural institutions in working within partnerships with other sectors (healthcare, social care, prison service etc.)? To implement this priority, the Council set up an OMC expert group (Open Method of Coordination group consisting of Member States experts) to map existing public policies dealing with social inclusion through culture and identify good practices. In 2019 the group produced the report, ”From Social Inclusion to Social Cohesion – The Role of Cultural Policy”, highlighting that ”culture and the arts are recognised as a potent force in preventative healthcare, therapeutic alternatives and general well-being. (…) In the field of arts and culture for health and well-being there is a broad range of practices, e.g. the arts in a healthcare environment, participatory arts programmes, arts on prescription, art therapy and arts in medical education (...).” The report has an entire chapter on the link between culture and well-being-health (ch. 8.2 ”Partner-centred approach: culture for health and well-being”), including recommendations to policy-makers (such as to adopt a transversal approach to culture, health, well-being and social cohesion/foster trans-sectoral coordination at a national level with different government departments).
- “Cultural heritage” (priority area B). An OMC group worked on the report ”Participatory governance of cultural heritage” in 2018, which provided evidence that using a participatory approach leads to increased appreciation of cultural heritage and an increased quality of life/well-being of people.
- ”Cultural and creative sectors: Creative economy and innovation” (priority area C). An OMC expert group produced the report ”Sustainable Cultural Tourism” in 2019, which acknowledged that ”New sustainable cultural tourism offers relating to both the tangible and intangible cultural heritage should place an emphasis on national strategic planning and networking, as well as concepts such as ‘slow’ tourism, ‘authenticity’, ‘storytelling’, ‘well-being’ and ‘contact with locals’ and that ”Tourism experiences that promote self-reflection, a slower pace and contemplation combined with physical activity can encourage well-being.”

Member States define their priorities for cultural policy making at EU level in multi-annual Work Plans adopted in form of conclusions by the Council of the EU. Next to the New European Agenda for Culture and in line with its strategic orientation, the Work Plan is established as a strategic and dynamic instrument of EU cultural cooperation that addresses current political developments and sets priorities, with due regard for the EU principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. The current Work Plan for Culture is the EU’s third, building on the previous 2015-2018 and 2011-2014 work plans.
For 2019-2022 there are 6 priorities for European cooperation in cultural policy-making: 1) Sustainability in cultural heritage; 2) Cohesion and well-being; 3) An ecosystem supporting artists, cultural and creative professionals and European content; 4) Gender equality; 5) International cultural relations; 6) Culture as a driver for sustainable development. 18 key topics and corresponding actions are defined under each of these priorities for the Member States, the presidencies of the Council as well as for the European Commission.
Regarding the ”Cohesion and well-being” priority, the policy document mentions that access to culture and participation in cultural life promote individual empowerment, democratic consciousness and social cohesion through exchanges with other people and civic engagement. Cross-sectoral cooperation with other areas, such as education, social care, healthcare, science and technology, and regional and urban development, has a significant effect on cohesion and well-being.
The topics addressed under the ”Cohesion and well-being” priority of the Work Plan:
- Social cohesion. After reviewing the report of the OMC group on ‘Fostering the contribution of culture to social inclusion’ (2017/18), a follow-up OMC group will be given a new mandate to explore specific topics of particular interest in more depth, such as the need to include culture as a cross-cutting issue in the fields of social policy, health policy and local development, among others. A conference will be organised to disseminate the results.
- High-quality architecture and built environment for everyone, which will be dealt with by on OMC expert group followed by a conference hosted by Austria and possible Council conclusions. Innovative and inclusive processes to deliver and preserve quality architecture are needed to develop an integrated approach contributing to the well-being of all citizens.
- Understanding digital audiences
- Young creative generation
- Citizenship, values and democracy
The Council invites the Member States and the Commission to work together on the priorities of the Work Plan for Culture, which is implemented by a dynamic rolling agenda. The Work Plan for Culture requires monitoring by the Presidency of the Council and, if necessary, may be adjusted by the Council in light of results achieved and/or policy developments at European level.