A new project aiming to improve health through the arts has been launched across Norfolk and Suffolk
Arts Council England has awarded £350,000 towards a two-year project, Norfolk and Suffolk: Region of Creative Health.
Arts Council England has awarded £350,000 towards a two-year project, Norfolk and Suffolk: Region of Creative Health. This multi-partner project will work across cultural, creative, health, social care, education and innovation sectors to bring the health and wellbeing benefits of culture and creativity to more people.
Singing, dancing, visiting museums, galleries and theatres, writing, reading and making things, are fundamental to long-term, healthy lives, and the prevention and management of long-term health conditions such as postnatal depression, asthma and Parkinson’s. This is supported by substantial evidence.
What they hope to achieve
Led by DanceEast and the Norfolk & Suffolk Culture Board, the project will aim to embed cultural and creative opportunities within health and social care services, where they can be more easily accessed by a wider range of people.
This will encourage, support, and enable people across Norfolk and Suffolk to build creative lives, including people managing long term health conditions, and those living in some of the most deprived communities in the region.
The approach builds on the excellent work of DanceEast, Suffolk Artlink, Creative Arts East, Suffolk Community Libraries and many others who deliver creative activity.
The 2-year project is part of a 10- year vision to establish creativity and cultural participation as core health behaviours for people in the region.
Anthony Missen, Creative Director & Chief Executive of DanceEast says:
“The award from Arts Council England provides a fantastic opportunity to build on existing partnerships and momentum so that we can embed culture and creativity within the lives of people in Norfolk and Suffolk.
"This investment has been awarded early in the NHS’s 10-year plan to move from cure to prevention: we see creativity and culture as playing a key role in achieving this. This project is unique nationally and will transform Norfolk and Suffolk into the UK’s leading region of creative health.”
Funding and finance- £1 million
With a total project value of £1million, £350,000 investment from Arts Council England will unlock a further £250,000 in funding and £500,000 in time, capacity, resource, and expertise.
Alongside cultural organisations, partners include Norfolk & Suffolk Integrated Care Board, Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, University of East Anglia, Norwich University of the Arts, University of Suffolk and Norfolk & Suffolk County Councils.
This will enable the connection into existing systems and approaches, such as social prescribing. The project will also create significant job opportunities for creative health practitioners, including freelancers.
Louise Jordan-Hall, Chair of Norfolk & Suffolk Culture Board says:
“The Norfolk & Suffolk: Region of Creative Health project is the result of several years of development and collaboration. This funding demonstrates the power of partnership, and the importance of working across sectors to come up with solutions that bring creative and cultural opportunities to people in our place.
“Our 2024 Creative Lives Report mapped regional activity, identifying needs, challenges, and opportunities for embedding creative health. Its recommendations have shaped our approach: workforce development, commissioning models, stronger health-sector leadership and value for the creative workforce sit at the heart of this project.
“The Norfolk & Suffolk Culture Board will use the evidence created through delivery of the Region of Creative Health project to advocate for the inclusion of creative health within plans held by the new Norfolk and Suffolk Mayor’s Office, and within health and social care service delivery.”
Some of the activities delivered through the Norfolk & Suffolk: Region of Creative Health project include:
- Providing training and qualifications for cultural, health and social care workers, to upskill the creative health leaders of tomorrow, including an apprenticeship with University of Suffolk
- Partners working together to develop creative health commissioning models and finding new ways to present data
- Developing new creative health information products, including NHS apps.
The project will include a programme of collaborative learning, development, and innovation. As it progresses, new ideas, ways of working and solutions will be shared through articles and events.