Striving for the people of Barnsley to live fuller healthier lives through creativity
Hosted by CHWA and the Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, the partnership advocates for, supports and strengthens the creative health agenda for Barnsley.
Image credit: Michael Aiden Photography
Objectives
Culture Change: Community led approach to culture and creativity focused on addressing inequalities.
Connection: Commission sustainable, creative programmes to improve health and wellbeing.
Learning: Ensure frontline services can access creativity and wellbeing skills training and development.
Co-Production: Establish connections between culture & creative activities and health and wellbeing.
Actions
Join the dots:
We will convene and connect creative health practitioners and champions. We will engage with diverse communities to find out what people need and want. We will use our networks to map existing activity, share what’s working, and fill gaps.
Boost the Creative Health Infrastructure:
We will ensure training is available and accessed by local practitioners and to support workforce understanding and development. We will coordinate collective research, funding, resources, and commissioning to drive at scale support and change.
Make creativity the norm:
We will use evidence and campaigns to raise awareness creative health to increase uptake amongst the public and commitment amongst strategic partners and practitioners. We will link and influence key strategies and decision making.
Our priorities are to:
Build meaningful evidence: We will collate and generate evidence that demonstrates the impact of creative health and drives commitment and change.
Target our support: We will play our part in tackling health inequalities and ensure the voices of artists and people with lived experience are in decisions.
The Partnership
The partnership meets 6 times a year (online and in-person) and comprises representatives from across the health and arts sectors:
Membership
- ArtWorks SY
- Barnsley Civic
- Creative Recovery
- Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council representatives from
- Public Health
- Libraries
- Heritage and Museums
- Culture and Visitor Economy
- Health partners from
- South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board
- South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
The Partnership is co-chaired by Luisa Golob (CHWA) and Jen MacPhail (Public Health Principal).
Luisa Golob is the Barnsley Creative Health Lead employed by CHWA 3 days a week to support and advocate for creative health in the Borough.
Contact her on [email protected]
Image credit: Barnsley Civic
Newsletters
Stay in touch with what goes on across the Borough and sign up to the below:
Barnsley Culture (sent by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council)
Socials
Opportunities to get out and meet people working within creative health:
Creative Recovery Artists Socials - 5.30pm - 8pm on most Wednesday evenings at the Digital Media Centre
Barnsley Civic Creative Socials - 6-8pm First Thursday of every month throughout 2025
Creative Health Activities
Check out these organisations to get involved in their regular creative health projects:
Men's Shed Inclusion in Action
Men's Shed | Shaw Lane, Barnsley
Mindful Moments - AWAITING LINK TO POSTER
Membership
Here is a quick link to the main strategies we are guided by within Barnsley that mention and support Creative Health:
Case studies
Image credit: Barnsley Civic