The Launch of the new National Alliance for Arts Health and Wellbeing
Date uploaded: October 15, 2012
The Launch of the new National Alliance for Arts Health and Wellbeing (England)
The new National Alliance for Arts Health and Wellbeing (England) has been launched to raise awareness of the impact the arts can have on health and wellbeing, to bring together the work that is happening across the country and to act as a resource for the whole sector.
The Alliance is made up of partners from across the country (a list of these is below). These partners will act as contacts for their region and will also liaise with national organisations working in this area along with government departments, the media and the public.
The founding principles of the Alliance form a new Charter for Arts Health and Wellbeing. Over the past twelve months, more than 1000 organisations and individuals have collaborated to create this Charter which summarises why we think the arts have a role to play in health and how we hope the arts will come to be seen as an integral part of the health of individuals, communities and society as a whole. The Charter is available on the website (www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk) along with a range of links to research, a directory of organisations and resources for the media. This website will form the central resource for the Alliance and will be gradually developed over the year ahead.
The Alliance has been developed with funding from Arts Council England and the energy and input of a huge number of people from across the country. It will be Chaired in turn by different regional partners, rotating every six months. The current Chair is Alex Coulter, Director of Arts and Health South West. London Arts in Health Forum is acting as Secretariat to the National Alliance so if you have any queries about the work of the Alliance or about the website, do please contact [email protected].
In the coming months, the Alliance will be running a media campaign to promote the role of the arts in health, supporting the development of Arts and Health South West’s international conference in June next year and working on a range of activity to support those working in this field.
The National Alliance is made up of the following regional partners, each representing a region of England:
- North West: Clive Parkinson, Manchester Metropolitan University
- North East: Mike White, Centre for Medical Humanities, Durham
- Yorkshire and the Humber: Deborah Munt, Open Art, Yorkshire
- East Midlands: tbc
- West Midlands: Kate Gant, Creative Health
- East Anglia: Kirsten Heydinrych, Open Arts, Essex and Gavin Clayton, Arts and Minds, Cambridgeshire
- South West: Alex Coulter, Arts and Health South West
- South East: Guy Eades, South East Arts and Health Partnership
- London: Victoria Hume, London Arts in Health Forum
