Mapping of Initiatives on Culture, Health and Well-being

ON:SONG ran HUM, an online singing for wellbeing programme, from January until June 2021. HUM acted as a trial for a Social Prescription Offer. With support from the Culture Recovery Fund, HUM was able to deliver sessions twice a week during lockdown for a community of people aged between 35 and over 85 years when many people were alone or had very little access to their own local communities. After three months of singing with ON:SONG they can prove that people have taken a proactive approach to looking after their physical and mental health, reduce visits to their GP, and reduce their dependence on medication, drugs, alcohol and nicotine intake.
In developing partnerships and collaborations for HUM to evolve, ON:SONG aims to focus on specific areas where this singing for wellbeing model can be used to support communities. This will enable collaborations and partnerships to maximise outreach and engagement and provide greatest value for money for the communities and societies that they serve.
Whether in-person or online, ON:SONG experience working with a variety of organisations, including NHS Trusts have shown the positive effect that singing for wellbeing has on individuals and company culture.

Arts and Minds is an arts and mental health charity, established in 2007 and based in Cambridgeshire. The charity is linked to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation NHS Trust and the former Cambridgeshire PCT. Arts and Minds delivers programmes for people with mental health issues and/or learning difficulties.
The Younger People with Dementia programme provides a safe and therapeutic environment for participants diagnosed with dementia early in life. Sessions allow attendees to show ability and enjoy success within a safe and social setting, experience handling clay and be guided and supported to make objects which will then be glazed and professionally fired.

Arts and Minds is an arts and mental health charity, established in 2007 and based in Cambridgeshire. The charity is linked to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation NHS Trust and the former Cambridgeshire PCT. Arts and Minds delivers programmes for people with mental health issues and/or learning difficulties. It offers a 12-week programme of two-hour art workshops for people experiencing mild to moderate depression and anxiety as an alternative to CBT. GPs, health promotion workers, occupational therapists, social workers, psychologists and counsellors can refer clients directly to Arts on Prescription using a referral form. Led by a professional artist and supported by a counsellor, each session offers the chance to work in various media (e.g. drawing, collage, clay and wirework) with the objective of decreasing anxiety and/or depression, while increasing wellbeing. The programme also includes facilitated group visits to museums and galleries. Arts on Prescription sessions provide a safe and therapeutic environment where participants feel mutually respected and can explore their creativity with like-minded individuals.

Arts and Minds is an arts and mental health charity, established in 2007 and based in Cambridgeshire. The charity is linked to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation NHS Trust and the former Cambridgeshire PCT. Arts and Minds delivers programmes for people with mental health issues and/or learning difficulties.
They are a welcoming community choir open to anybody with a mental health condition and their carers and friends. Young people over 12 years are welcome to attend with an accompanying adult.

Older adults are referred by local healthcare professionals to the Reminiscence Officer and selfreferral is also possible. Referrers are given a referral leaflet about the project that includes information for participants. Potential participants are contacted by the Reminiscence Officer and offered an introduction and access to the Museum of Oxford’s ‘Memory Lane Group’ monthly meetings and other suitable museum services. The social prescribing scheme is linked to the Memory Lane reminiscence group that began in 2010 as an informal monthly meeting at the Museum of Oxford (or nearby museum and heritage locations) to reminisce about a chosen theme and enjoy company in a comfortable environment.
The Prescription for Reminiscence Project links into museum services across the Oxford Aspire Museums Partnership, a consortium of Oxford University Museums and Oxfordshire County Council Museums Service (and one of 16 Renaissance Major Partner Museum Services funded by ACE to support excellence and resilience within regional museums). Lead partners are the Museum of Oxford and Oxford Aspire; delivery partners are Oxford University Museums Outreach Service, the Ashmolean Museum, Pitt Rivers Museums, Oxford Museum of Natural History, Museum of the History of Science, Oxford Botanic Gardens and ‘Hands on Oxfordshire Heritage’ (Oxfordshire County Council Museum Service); referral partners are Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Guideposts Trust, Young Dementia UK and Oxfordshire County Council Dementia Advisors.

Museums on Prescription is a three-year research project (2014-2017) funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council investigating the value of heritage encounters in social prescribing.
Social prescribing links people to sources of community support to improve their health and wellbeing. The Museums on Prescription project connected lonely older people at risk of social isolation to partner museums in Central London and Kent. The project researched the processes, practices, value and impact of social prescription schemes in the arts and cultural sector with specific reference to museums (including galleries).
The project is supported by work carried out over several years into museums, touch and wellbeing, assessing the benefits of discussing and handling heritage objects in healthcare settings.

Active Cumbria is focused on helping people and communities across Cumbria create a sporting habit for life. Active Cumbria provides a good example of both general and specific activity streams for exercise and they have also developed a highly effective, collaborative dance programme Dancing Recall that responds to the needs of those living with dementia.
'Dancing Recall' is an innovative countywide community dance and movement project, specifically designed for people living with dementia and their care-givers. The project is managed by Active Cumbria and has been developed in partnership with Cumbria County Council, NHS Cumbria and Dance Cumbria (a consortium of local dance practitioners) as part of the Cumbria Dementia Strategy Action Plan. It is supported by Age UK and Alzheimer’s Society. Dancing Recall is bringing people with dementia together to enjoy regular dance sessions, with many benefits for their health and wellbeing. Dancing Recall offers respite and stimulation for people living with dementia and their caregivers. Groups are held across Cumbria, running currently in Carlisle, Penrith and Keswick. The project was designed by neurological physiotherapist and community dance artist Daphne Cushnie. It uses a model founded on the values of community dance where relationship, creativity and community building are key.

The Atkinson in Southport hosts Creative Alternatives, Sefton’s Arts on Prescription programme which was established in 2006. The Atkinson is a local authority (Sefton) funded art centre housing a theatre, art gallery and museum.
Creative Alternatives is an arts on prescription service that offers residents of St Helens the opportunity to access to a free programme that is centred around creative activities, wellbeing and self-care. They have been delivering their service in St Helens for a long period of time and during the Covid 19 pandemic they created an online version of their local programme so they supported and helped people who were experiencing poor mental health during a very difficult time. During 2021/22 they are offering participants the choice of face-to-face OR online groups, meaning they can choose depending on preference, availability &/or personal circumstances.
Their online service combines a mix of weekly art-activity videos, live expressive writing group sessions, mindfulness podcasts, interactive forums along with self-care information and sign-posting relating to both the Covid-19 crisis and general mental wellbeing & resilience. All their art activities have been designed so they can be done in the safety of the home environment using innovative art materials that can also be found in the home. Their weekly live video sessions then provide an opportunity for participants to still connect and interact with other people on the programme as well as the Artists who lead the sessions.

The Pendle Leisure Trust (PLT) was set up in 2000 when the local authority handed over all responsibility for managing leisure services. The council provides an annual subsidy which has been subject to cut backs. The Pendle Arts on Prescription programme was established in 2007. This programme is funded through a number of funding streams but their core budget still comes from the local authority through an adult learning budget and Target Wellbeing resource
(via Big Lottery). The programme provides twelve week arts and crafts courses, three times a year, in a number of community locations across Burnley, Pendle and Ribble Valley.
This arts on prescription programme provides art courses free of charge to adults suffering from depression, anxiety, isolation and low self-esteem. Courses include: mixed media and crafts, drawing, painting, glass, creative writing, journaling, cookery, cake baking and textiles. All of the courses are run by professional artists, who are experts in their own field but who also have a passion for helping others and understand how people who are feeling a bit fragile need to work at their own pace in a friendly and relaxed environment.

The Reader Organisation has through their pioneering Reading for Health scheme developed an innovative intervention, ‘Shared Reading’, in order to promote wellbeing in a range of contexts, which include community, hospital and acute settings. The shared reading model brings people together in weekly groups to listen to poems and stories read aloud. Thoughts and experiences are shared; personal and social connections are made.
This approach focuses on the person rather than any health issue. By focusing on people not problems it identifies resource. The underlying tenet or central power of the shared reading model means that through works of fiction or poetry reading can help individuals to make changes to how they feel about themselves and how they relate to other people. In this way, literature has a powerful potential to contribute to both general wellbeing as well as healing processes.