Culture for Health and Wellbeing: Helping to tackle key societal challenges

On 14-15 November 2024, the city of Bielsko-Biała in the south of Poland - candidacy for European Capital of Culture 2029 - in cooperation with Culture Action Europe, leader of the Culture and Health platform, will be hosting a two full day conference (with an opening dinner on 13 November) to examine the potential for culture to support the health and wellbeing of people. Evidence shows that culture and artistic activities contribute to our social, physical and mental health and well-being.

The conference aims to raise awareness about these health benefits and the cost-effectiveness of a comprehensive, inclusive approach to health and social policy across the EU. It will focus on implementation methods in Central-Eastern Europe, using both European and local examples. Through presentations, panels, workshops, and cultural activities, participants will explore evidence-based practices and arts participation as a key health behavior. Attendees will include policy makers and experts from the cultural, health, and social sectors. The conference will also celebrate the launch of the Culture and Health platform supported by the European Union and the issue of the Lancet series X in cooperation with WHO and supported by the Jameel Arts and Health Lab.

The conference will focus on the following topics:

1. Showcasing the evidence regarding the health and well-being benefits of cultural activities
2. Culture and youth mental health
3. Culture and forcibly displaced people
4. Caring for the helpers (e.g. rescue teams) and carers (medical staff and artists)

The conference will focus on the on the following sub-topics:

• Culture and youth mental health (connected to challenge 3 in the CultureForHealth report- page 12 in the summary)
• Culture and forcibly displaced people (connected to challenge 8 in the CultureForHealth report- page 17 in the summary)
• Caring for the helpers (eg rescue teams) and carers (medical staff and artists) – connected to challenge 4 in the CultureForHealth report- page 13 in the summary)

The meeting will feature a range of activities to support these different objectives. Plenary presentations, panel discussions, workshops will provide the participants with an understanding of the evidence base as well as the practical means of implementing culture, health and well-being projects and activities. Artistic elements and cultural programmes will provide an experiential understanding of arts participation as an important health behaviour.

Participants will include cultural and health policy makers, experts in the field, practitioners from the cultural, health, social and educational fields.

Experiences from current pilot programmes and interim evaluation results from our #MadeWithInterreg project Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region will be presented by Marta Ciesielska, Senior Advisor at the Marshal’s Office of the Westpomeranian Region, in panel 1, and by Karol Pruciak, one of our art facilitators of the polish pilot programme, in panel 3.

Participation in the conference is free, but registration is required!

Please find here the agenda (external link).