We're sharing here a few events brought together by our regional programme leads and voluntary champions for this Creativity & Wellbeing Week (18-22 May 2026):
In Dorset, a Creative Health Celebration on 19 May will be a chance to meet fellow practitioners and partners in health, social care, and the broader lcoal government and community sectors to connect, share ideas and explore the role of creativity in addressing current health challenges. It's also a moment to launch a significant new Creative Health Strategy for Dorset.
You can also watch this helpful introductory video created by Dorset champion Gemma Alldred: ‘What is Creative Health?'
In Leicester, voluntary champion Sallie Varnam has curated a full week of activities for the Creative Health & Heritage Centre at Leicester Hospital. Events range from creative journalling to menopause poetics.
Live Well and Dance session in Leicester, photo: Dean Leivers
In Barnsley, the week will include a creative afternoon shaping priorities for Barnsley's thriving creative health sector; forest bathing; library lates; and an inspirational new exhibition at the Cooper Gallery as part of a creative health programme designed to support vulnerable adults experiencing loneliness and isolation across the borough. And for the wider South Yorkshire region there will be an online event on 21 May looking at how the local creative health board is building new systems and structures to help creative health thrive.
Exploring the theme of creative planetary health, in Derby's Museum of Making a new exhibition, From Field to Fashion, "pulls the thread on where your clothes really come from". Field to Fashion brings together farmers, designers, artists and makers to reveal the people, processes and creativity behind wool. From traditional skills such as shearing, spinning and dyeing to contemporary fashion and sustainable design, the exhibition uncovers how materials are transformed, and why it matters today.
In Suffolk, regional lead Claire Atherton will be hosting the May Creative Health Interest Meeting (CHIMe), focusing on "Practitioner Wellbeing - Avoiding burnout and managing wellbeing". CHIMe is a new initiative designed to bring together professionals from the Arts & Culture, voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE), Healthcare, Social Care, and Public Health sectors who are interested in exploring, developing, and sustaining Creative Health practice across Norfolk and Suffolk.
In Liverpool, House of Memories at National Museums Liverpool will be holding a family memory stroll on 22 May. Family memory strolls are dementia-friendly guided visits in the Museum, which connect people through conversations about Liverpool’s past.
On a memory stroll you can explore Liverpool icons like the Overhead Railway, known as the dockers' umbrella, Blackie the rocking horse, or the Colomendy totem pole. Bring a friend or loved one to share memories with, and create some new ones together.
In London, major events at the National Theatre and Science Gallery will be complemented as ever by a huge range of small organisations delivering workshops around the capital.