CHWA's conference will run from 7-9 October 2026 in Barnsley. 

• Book your tickets here, including in-person and digital 
• Apply for one of 10 bursary spaces here (deadline 10am, Monday 7 September) 
• Read about how you can support as a sponsor here
• Read the programme here or listen to an audio version here

Our opening speakers and panel chairs will help us explore the ‘edges’ of creative health – how it relates to healthcare systems, planetary health, the economy, and shifting cultures.

Thahmina Begum, Artist-Researcher and Art Psychotherapist | Helen Chatterjee, Professor, Human & Ecological Health, UCL |  Prof Kevin Fenton, Regional Public Health Director, Department of Health and Social Care | Darren Henley, Chief Executive of Arts Council England | Hollie Smith-Charles, Director, Creative Health & Change Lead, Arts Council England

For a full list of creative and inspiring panelists, artists, performers and workshops facilitators, see the programme here.

The conference is an opportunity for the creative health sector to come together for nourishment, knowledge and support. 

Our theme for 2026 is Common Ground and we will be learning from people in our own and related fields about how we can come together to effect deep and much-needed systemic change. 

As ever we will be guided by the Creative Health Quality Principles, to build a gathering that is person-centred, equitable, safe, creative, collaborative, realistic, reflective and sustainable. 

Our main hub with be Barnsley Civic, with satellite workshop/meeting spaces around Barnsley town centre. 

You can read about our previous conference in Barnsley here.

Thank you

Thank you to our principal funders Arts Council England, and to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, Helix Arts, Leeds Institute For Societal Futures (University of Leeds), London Arts and Health, and the West Yorkshire Creative Health Consortium for their generous support of bursaries for people to attend this conference.