The benefits of commissioners working with the arts sector have been highlighted by pilot schemes in Kent and Gloucestershire. Jessica Harris shares the details.
Pilot projects in Kent and Gloucestershire have revealed procurement approaches are leaving arts and cultural organisations at a disadvantage, according to NEF.
How can you attend a festival if you can’t leave your house? Michael Eades describes a project bringing the festival experience to people with dementia.
Dance offers older people many physical and social benefits, but performing to an audience makes the greatest impact on wellbeing, believes Jemma Bicknell.
Struck down with depression, international singer and songwriter Rhoda Dakar reveals how volunteering on a music project helped her to take back control.
In Birmingham, craft projects are not only helping young people learn new skills but giving their self-confidence and resilience a boost. Deirdre Buckley explains how.
The arts and health may have been officially coupled with the launch of a new evaluation framework, but will they ever be comfortable bedfellows? Frances Williams has her doubts.
How can arts organisations present their offer more effectively to public service commissioners? Five pilot consortia have been working to do just that and Jessica Harris reports on what they’ve learned.
Spending time in the great outdoors is proven to boost wellbeing, but how can the arts encourage people to do it? Nicky Goulder describes one project that is doing just that.
Advice and resources to help arts and health professionals conduct more robust and credible evaluations of their work are being made more widely available through a new website.
Those who attend the arts report significantly higher levels of happiness than those who don’t, but the opposite is true for those who visit libraries.
What are the opportunities for arts organisations interested in delivering ‘on prescription’ schemes? And do they outweigh the challenges? Jessica Harris investigates.
Want society to reap the health benefits of arts engagement? Stop directing so much funding to major organisations – these outcomes will only ever be a secondary objective for them, argues Peter Stark.