News and Blogs

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News

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A woman wearing a vibrant multi-coloured top and black trousers, leaning against a white porcelain figure head that has grass and leaves for hair.
This photo was taken in the wellbeing zone at the World Federation of Occupational therapy Conference in Thailand. The photo was taken by my friend Natasha Powell
Odeth Richardson is a panelist at the Common Ground Conference 2026 exploring 'what are the edges of creative health?' on the 7th October. What have you been doing today?
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image of a man in academic robes in a panelled room
Statement following the death of Professor Jason Arday from Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance and London Arts and Health. 
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A woman with light brown wearing a blue t-shirt and a black skirt directing a bald headed male wearing a blue shirt over a white t-shirt and red trousers
Michael Aiden photography
We’re looking for up to 20 volunteers for our upcoming conference, Common Ground, on 7-9 October at Barnsley Civic. Deadline Monday 7 September at 5pm.

Blog

We know we live in an unjust society. Systemic racism, ableism, sexism, ageism, class discrimination, transphobia, discrimination on the basis of religion… it’s all (arguably) more visible than it’s ever been.
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three people in brightly coloured suits stand close to each other on a stage with a black background, all leaning at unusual angles
Lung
As we said back in January with our colleagues at London Arts and Health, we are organisations devoted to health, wellbeing and equity; and we’re watching these concepts devastated e
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A young muslim woman smiling wearing a black hijab and a red top playing a brown guitar
Funded by Youth Music and BBC Children in Need, the Sonic Minds programme supports young people at elevated risk of experiencing a mental health issue.

Stories of lived experience

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an abstract digital artwork with a dark background featuring bright prin, blues and fine points of yellow light in the centre
‘Untitled’ By Casey Francis (Mad Truth)
...through creativity we can transform adversity to beauty and in the process transform ourselves. We can create our own lives as if we are creating a work of art. Instilled within all of our experience are layers of meaning, understanding and connection. Art is empathy, it is communication. Art allows us to step outside of ourselves, and see something inside that we could not recognise because of our external circumstances, our pain, our fear, our doubt.
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Venn diagram showing the intersections of 'queer, 'creativity' and 'health'
Illustrations by MJ Barker
What would it mean to ‘queer’ creative health? Why might we need to, and, if so, how? I was given the opportunity to first delve into these questions through a PhD scholarship I completed in 2019. My literature review explored longer histories of the field of Arts in Health as part of exploring its relationship to people and place.  
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Tina Blaber with guitar against a wall
Tina Blaber
Our existence is embedded in culture – it’s all around us – and I think the need for this, as social creatures, is an inherent part of our make-up, as human beings.

A Day in the Life

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A woman wearing a vibrant multi-coloured top and black trousers, leaning against a white porcelain figure head that has grass and leaves for hair.
This photo was taken in the wellbeing zone at the World Federation of Occupational therapy Conference in Thailand. The photo was taken by my friend Natasha Powell
Odeth Richardson is a panelist at the Common Ground Conference 2026 exploring 'what are the edges of creative health?' on the 7th October. What have you been doing today?
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textile collage with purple background and a pink heart with the words love is everything inside it, with a number of hands with different skin tones holding the heart from the outside
@soofiya
We start and end our sessions by standing in a circle and singing ‘one love, keep us together. We are, voices of hope.’ How we came to sing this, was through conflict. After the conflict, we decided to create a new space, and a new way of being in space, through a new song. A new song = a new space.
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Half-length portrait photo of a woman with long dark hair and a black jumper stannding in front of white bannisters
Image reproduced courtesy of Historic England
Archaeology is a magical process of discovery with huge opportunities for team working, creative practice and largely outdoor physical activity and has been shown to support wellbeing in a myriad of ways.

International

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Hear and Now 2019 in Bedford, co-produced by Orchestras Live and the Philharmonia Orchestra © Beth Walsh
Hear and Now 2019 in Bedford, co-produced by Orchestras Live and the Philharmonia Orchestra © Beth Walsh
An invitation on behalf of the international Music for Social Impact research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to participate in a survey of musicians in all pa
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a woman discusses a picture at the Crocker Museum with a group of seated women
Crocker Museum, Sacramento, California
Seeking participants for new online study to find out.
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logo for Dawn Chorus
Creative Aging International (CAI) was started with the ideas of “making with” and “making for” at its core.