Could Arts on Prescription Work in Estonia?

On 10 June 2026, the BSR Mental Health Platform held a national transfer webinar in Estonia, featuring the work of two of the projects it brings together: Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region, now concluded, and the ongoing Arts on Prescription in Norway. The event was developed and organised with the platform’s Estonian partner, the Coalition for Mental Health and Well-being VATEK. More than 100 participants registered, from the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Culture, municipalities, NGOs, and health, cultural and educational organisations.

Nils Fietje of the Behavioural and Cultural Insights Unit at WHO Europe set out the broader case for culture and health, and Maris Jõgeva of the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs presented the national mental health strategy, giving the discussion its policy anchor on both sides.

Arts on Prescription is a low intensity, community-based intervention in which people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties take part in structured arts and cultural activities. Ülla-Karin Nurm and Wiebke Marcus of the NDPHS Secretariat, a partner in the Interreg-funded Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region project, presented the concept, the evidence base, the AoP Guide and the policy recommendations developed through the work in the region.

The core of the webinar was four accounts of the model in practice. Stine Eskesen Keiding of Culture Region Funen presented Kulturkraft in Odense, Hannah Goebel described the integrated approach developed at the Adult Education Centre in Bremen, Inga Surgunte presented Museums on Prescription in Cēsis Municipality in Latvia, and Marit Stranden of the Norwegian Resource Centre for Arts and Health reported on pilot programmes running in five Norwegian municipalities. Four countries, four different starting points, and a set of practical conditions that had to be met in each for the model to work.

Closing the webinar, Ülla-Karin Nurm argued that the conditions in Estonia are unusually favourable. A broad mental health strategy is in place, mental health in all policies is a stated priority, and community-based interventions are already recognised. What sets Estonia apart is its cultural infrastructure. Libraries, museums, folk art associations, dance groups and choirs reach communities across the country, including smaller towns and rural areas, and this is precisely the network that Arts on Prescription is designed to activate. The health sector’s part is to identify people who would benefit, build referral pathways, and treat the approach as a legitimate element of the care continuum.

Her conclusion was that the open question is no longer whether the model works but whether the conditions are right here to try it, with a pilot or feasibility study as a proportionate next step.

For the platform, this was its first national knowledge transfer activity, and it did what the platform is meant to do: take results generated by individual projects into a national policy setting, convened by a partner with the standing and the networks to bring the right people into the room. Interest generated on the day carried into further activity, with Arts on Prescription featuring at the Arvamusfestival opinion festival in August 2026.

Selected presentations can be viewed on the NDPHS YouTube Channel.

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