UK & Ireland State of the Sector Survey for Creative Health

Results

We're sharing here the first results from our survey in autumn 2025 of the creative health sector across the UK and Ireland, conducted as a partnership between the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance, the Wales Arts, Health & Wellbeing Network, Arts, Culture, & Wellbeing Scotland, Arts Care (Northern Ireland), the Northern Ireland Creative Health Network, Réalta, and London Arts and Health. A total of 180 of you responded.

We will be analysing results over the next few months. This is just the first batch of findings...

Equity

We've started by looking at a collection of responses connected with equity. You can see these below. (NB The qualitative analysis uses AI so may not be completely accurate.)  

Respondents are around 80% female, 4% nonbinary and 11% male. This is a diverse group in relation to sexuality, but less so in relation to heritage; in particular there is a gap between national figures for people identifying as of Asian heritage (9%) and respondents (2%). Respondents are broadly in line with national figures for people identifying as Disabled, and there's been a steep rise in people identifying as Neurodiverse (from 11-26%). Respondents' backgrounds are broadly more affluent than in 2023, and it's notable that this is a highly educated group, with around half having postgraduate qualifications. Respondents are also far more likely than not to have caring responsibilities.  

It's worth bearing in mind with all this that the figures will be impacted by who is filling the form out on behalf of organisations; and which freelancers will have had time to do this. 

Many of the responses to this question related to cuts in arts funding, cuts in health funding, the upheaval of structural reforms in the NHS. There are also a number of concerns relating to far-right movements, hostile environments, and racism affecting communities and participants. This is linked in the responses with increased psychosocial stress, anxiety, and exhaustion among practitioners, and awareness that marginalised groups (e.g., LGBTQ+, migrants, Disabled people) are facing additional barriers.

Respondents value a range of aspects of the work, including the idea of creativity as a human right, a desire to build social justice, and engage in meaningful work that supports wellbeing and builds community. Many are inspired by their own lived experience.

Over half of respondents felt their work impacts or relates to health inequalities. It’s worth noting occasional examles where ‘yes’ answers don’t clearly relate to health inequalities, although these are rarer than in the previous survey. A third are not sure whether their work relates or not - which suggests there is still work to be done to develop a clearer understanding of creativity, culture and health inequalities. 

Almost three-quarters of respondents felt their work supported or involved people identifying with the protected characteristics. It’s worth noting that ‘Yes’ responses sometimes refer to a more generic offer to people "from a wide range of backgrounds”, for example. But this is less frequently the case than in the 2023 survey.