In 2021-22 CHWA led a consortium with London Arts in Health, Arts & Health South West and the NPAG for Arts, Design & Heritage in Healthcare as part of a Julie’s Bicycle Accelerator programme “to advance …sustainable practice and share insights with peers and the wider sector”. We worked with independent researcher Frances Northrop to find out more about organisations who are making connections between creativity and cultural engagement, the climate and environmental crisis, and health and wellbeing. This resource is the outcome. We will launch the resource with a free discussion on 18 May 3-4pm as part of Creativity & Wellbeing Week.
Why are we providing this resource?
Climate justice and health equity are urgent, intersecting issues. Climate change impacts everything from mental health to respiratory health, and affects people unequally.
Many creative freelancers and organisations already take a holistic approach to health in relation to community and environment. We believe that as more and more people do this, we will be able to
- imagine new futures
- empower changemakers
- demonstrate sustainable organisational practices
- reduce demand on polluting and energy-hungry health services
We want to help creative and cultural practitioners directly address the connected issues of climate change, environmental degradation and public health. We are particularly interested in accelerating work that creates concrete change at a local level.
Who is this for?
Creative health practitioners and organisations; funders; commissioning organisations.
What is this for?
We want this resource to be useful to organisations or freelance creatives who are thinking about how to bring climate activism into their work. We want to help people feel more confident discussing climate and health as intersecting issues that can be addressed through creativity.
How can we accelerate our positive impact on health and climate justice?
Here are some ideas that might improve your practice. (These are based on our analysis of five conversations with innovative organisations.)