Arts and health
Welcome to the Arts and Health network website. This is a sub-site of the Government Office East Midlands Directorate of Public Health website – www.emphasisnetwork.org.uk.
This sub-site is aimed at highlighting the regions Arts and Health work and at being the major online source of information. Both Arts and Health professionals, alongside those currently engaged in work in this field, will find this section of the Emphasis website invaluable.
The Directorate of Public Health, East Midlands, aims to establish a multi-agency, multi-sector approach to promoting health and well-being. Increasingly there is evidence to illustrate that participation in arts and cultural activity is a powerful mechanism for promoting healthy outcomes and we realise the many ways in which arts practice can contribute to both regional and national objectives. For example, the East Midlands Regional Assembly’s regional plan for public health, ‘Invest for Health’ recognises the powerful role that cultural activity can have on healthy outcomes. In short, we believe that the arts have a central role to play in raising aspiration, in increasing individual and community confidence, in developing community cohesion and in promoting individual and community well-being.
This site will provide a visible focus for the wealth of regional activity in this area. The 2005 Arts Council England East Midlands report, ‘Seeing the Wood for the Trees’ aimed at mapping the then regional arts and health activity, and found that the region is particularly strong in terms of addressing issues of mental health and matters affecting young people. In general, it found a wealth of high quality activity, much illustrating partnership between public health and arts practitioners. This site will aim to link in with the work of Arts Council England East Midlands and also of the work of the East Midlands Arts in Health Forum, managed by Mike White and Mary Robson from the Centre for Arts Forum, managed by Mike White and Mary Robson from the Centre for Arts and Health in Humanities, which provides networking and professional support in this area.
Amongst the sub-sections of this website is a Diary page with forthcoming events, a section featuring project Case Studies, a section where you can access current and backdated emphasis arts and health Newsletters as well as a section for Evaluation and Evidence. You can sign up to receive a regular Emphasis newsletter – with a link to the latest arts and health newsletter and other information – by visiting www.emphasisnetwork.org.uk/membership.htm.The Resources section will include links to other useful sites, information about regional and national initiatives, information about public health strategies such and as Food and Health Action plan alongside other useful documents.
Contribution from website users is important. You will find you are able to register your event on the Diary section. Organisations or individuals are invited to contribute by submitting information about their project on the Case Studies section and also relevant reports on the Project Evaluation and Evidence section.
We would love to hear from you: please contact us at emphasisonartsandhealth@googlemail.com
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