Mapping of Initiatives on Culture, Health and Well-being

Well-Being A(r)t Work offers a set of workshops created specifically for institutions, international organizations, and companies in order to facilitate stress prevention and team cohesion. Promoting and maintaining the physical, psychological and social workers well-being is a key factor for institutions or companies to consider when striving to increase productivity, employee engagement and retention. Services and specific products: Well-being a(r)t work - Consultancy services on managing stress and reinforcing resilience; take a(rt) break - Creative workshops designed for events and conferences to help relax and recharge mental batteries; team a(r)t work - Teambuilding activities focused on encouraging creativity, increasing collaboration, improving communication, reinforcing motivation and underline common goals.

Dialogue Arts + Health was a regionally based professional development project for artists and practitioners working in Arts and Health settings. The project included three main strands – Regional Dialogue Sessions, a National | Dialogue Arts + Health and an Online | Dialogue as web-based discussion forum for communication and documentation on the project. Dialogue Arts + Health aimed to bring together artists who were experienced or interested in developing contemporary art projects in healthcare settings. The overall project aimed to address a range of needs and issues for and with artists working in healthcare contexts.
Arts and Health Coordinators Ireland (AHCI) worked collaboratively to bring together artists who were experienced or interested in working in healthcare contexts through Dialogue Arts + Health. The project was delivered in three main strands : (1) Regional Dialogue Sessions; (2) National | Dialogue Arts + Health; (3) Online | Dialogue – a web-based discussion forum for communication and documentation on the project.
The Regional Dialogue Sessions took the form of twelve professional development sessions for artists across art-forms (Visual Art, Theatre including Puppetry & Storytelling, Dance and Traditional Music), which took place in Cavan, Offaly, Galway and Limerick between September and November 2011. These sessions culminated in the National | Dialogue Arts + Health, a one-day event which explored shared outlooks for arts and health practice in Ireland with a range of stakeholders including artists, arts organisations, healthcare professionals, health service users, and others interested in the area of arts and health practice.
Dialogue Arts + Health was developed by the Arts + Health Coordinators Ireland (AHCI) in partnership with the Association of Local Authority Arts Officers (ALA:AO). It was funded by the Arts Council of Ireland through a one-off Projects Award.

Dialysis Arts Programme at Merlin Park University Hospital provides patients with individual participatory arts workshops during the long hours of haemodialysis treatment. Those participating find a more productive use of their time, engaged in a way that distracts from worries and “makes time fly”. Established in 2012 with an Arts Council Project Award, the initial year-long project phase encompassed a wealth of person-centred art workshops and collaborations, a publication, and the exhibition. The patient waiting area was also transformed, guided by three rounds of patient consultation. This included a window blind and wallpaper designed by a patient as she was dialysed.
Since 2014 the programme has been continuously supported by a partnership between Saolta Arts, Galway University Hospitals, and the Irish Kidney Association. Though its focus is always on the creative process, special events have allowed outcomes to be celebrated with friends and family. Considered a vital aspect of patient care, the Dialysis Arts Programme thrives on the continuing enthusiasm and support of the amazing renal team in Unit 7. Staff Nurse Jacinta.

Saolta Arts run the west of Ireland’s leading Arts and Health programme as a means of improving the hospital experience for patients, staff and visitors. They believe that access to the arts promotes well-being and enhances the hospital environment. Menu of Poems is a project that serves a helping of poetry on the hospital meal tray in celebration of All Ireland Poetry Day. It is a collection of carefully selected poems, is intended for distribution throughout hospitals and health care settings. The project is supported by Poetry Ireland since its conception in 2009. Menu of Poems is a project of Arts and Health Co-ordinators Ireland, managed and produced by Saolta Arts.

Since 2005, UCLH Arts and Heritage programme (UCLH Arts and Heritage) has worked to improve patient and staff outcomes through the Arts. It does this in a number of ways including a changing exhibition and music programme, creative workshops on wards, artist residencies, commissioning site specific artwork and a staff culture club. UCLH Arts and Heritage receives its funding from UCLH Charity and the Friends of UCLH. UCLH provides first-class acute and specialist services in six hospitals in central London.

Voices Across Time’s Community Outreach program seeks to bring their work in audience participatory musicals directly into the community especially focusing on local care homes and primary schools. Schools Work at a glance: Usually over a number of days, the Voices Across Time team will conduct workshops with up to two classes and devise a musical piece based on the current topic in the curriculum. A sharing assembly to parents or other classes made into both film/audio recordings to document the classes work, a musical score and backing tracks of their work which the school keep and can be used for future performances within the school.

Voices Across Time’s Community Outreach program seeks to bring their work in audience participatory musicals directly into the community especially focusing on local care homes and primary schools. Care Home Work at a glance: ranging from one off visits to 5 week long projects, Voices Across Time will come and bring the music of the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s to life for the residents, directed and incorporating them, a performance will always round off each session. By using the rhythm of the music, the stories the songs tell, the character the performance desires and the technical requirements of singing, Voices Across Time work to provide a workshop that is both mentally and physically stimulating for the residents. Workshops can range from one off visits to weekly sessions conducted over an extended period of 5 weeks. Regardless of the length of time, the workshops are fused with theatre, music, movement, conversation

Vamos Theatre is the UK’s leading full mask theatre company, recognised leaders in non-verbal communication training and performance. Since 2013, over 42,000 people have experienced their Health and Care workshops and performances. Their unique approach engages people to think differently about health and well-being, and ways of caring for all, including those living with dementia. They offer performances, workshops and talks for Health and Care settings. For people living with health conditions that affect
their wellbeing e.g. dementia or Parkinson’s, the performances provide meaningful emotional and creative activity and everyone taking part is supported to express themselves, and are given alternative ways and choices of communication. Workshop - Listening with your Eyes helps develop skills of empathy, insight, listening and
trust-building. Suitable for all experiences, the workshop practically explores the ways in which we make connections, with the emphasis on the non-verbal. It looks at
the impact of body language, mood, eye contact, touch and gesture, and shows how tone of voice can change the meaning of the words we say. Performances - Sharing Joy
is a theatre show created for people living with dementia and their carers and families. It’s a celebration of life and all its joys, using music, dance, nostalgia, masks, puppetry and laughter to bring pleasure and meaning to everyone involved. Talk - Making Connections - Vamos Theatre’s Artistic Director brings arts-led practice to life in
a talk on the company’s work within the Health and Care sectors.

Spitalfields Music is a creative charity in East London and they use music to bring diverse communities together through high-quality performances, an industry leading artist development programme, and award-winning projects in the community. Their mission is to bring diverse communities together in one most challenged and deprived boroughs in the UK, at a time when the perceived differences are threatening the well-being of the society. Spitalfield Music are oriented towards organizing different music festivals and to provide professional music training for different participants, or to organize different workshops such as music and mindfulness.

(B)old is part of the Southbank Centre’s artistic programme for well-being. People living with dementia, and their companions, can explore their creativity in the (B)old project. Led by artists, these creative workshops take place over nine weeks, for two hours every week. Not only are they a place where people can find their artistic voice; they’re also a space to make friends. So far, they have presented: (B)old Words - a series of creative writing sessions; (B)old Moves - a series of dance workshops and (B)old Visions - a series of film-making workshops.