ARTS and HEALTH
“Life is not a support system for art. It is the other way around”
Stephen King
1. Where are we now?
The arts make a central contribution to developing more active, dynamic and
healthier communities; they make a significant difference to the way we feel
and are fundamental to our quality of our life. They can help engage
marginalised groups and can restore vitality and confidence within local
communities. Within healthcare settings such as hospitals, the arts can
improve patient and carer satisfaction, reduce stress and pain and shorten
lengths of stay. Individual engagement in the arts helps develop self-esteem
and confidence and nurtures skills which can lead to further training and
employment opportunities. All these outcomes are health-enhancing in
themselves. In addition, research has shown that active participation in the
arts can improve health and well-being.
The arts are unique in being able to provide these benefits. They enable and
encourage people not only to understand their own world, but also to explore
and imagine possible other worlds. The arts stimulate both the mind and the
heart – they educate our thoughts and our feelings.
Right Here Right Now, Derby’s previous arts strategy, recognised the
contribution the arts make to people’s health and, in particular, advocated for
the development of issue-based participatory arts; for example, mental health
and young people at risk of offending. There are many examples of this type
of work throughout the city. However, in the last couple of years a number of
large scale Arts and Health Programmes have emerged.
PFI Derby City Hospital
Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has developed an Arts and Health
Strategy which supports the development of the new PFI Derby Hospital,
which is due for completion in 2009. The strategy aims to develop a high
quality programme of arts that adds to the quality of the new building,
supports the healing process, engenders civic pride and helps build
relationships between the hospital and the community. In summer 2007 the
PFI (HealthCare Projects) appointed an Arts Co-ordinator for the trust, Juliet
Cooper (cooper@hcp.co.uk).
A number of projects are already in development including music and visual
arts programming and a developing participation activity utilising the
significant collection of artefacts and art grown through the life of the
Derbyshire Royal Infirmary and City Hospital.
Arts Revive, Revive Centre, Chaddesden
Revive is a £5 million Derby City Primary Care Trust (PCT) flagship health
project for the Breadsall, Chaddesden and Derwent area of Derby, which
opened in early 2007. The new building has a wealth of arts facilities
including: artist studios, dedicated exhibition space, workshop areas and a
photography dark room. Arts Revive is a partnership between the PCT,
Revive and QUAD. QUAD currently has a 1-year service level agreement with
the PCT to deliver a community-centred programme of arts and health which
aims to:
positively contribute towards the health and quality of life of local
people
create a distinctive and stimulating health facility
develop skills and knowledge of local people, health and arts
professionals
pilot innovative ways of joint service delivery
test the approach and look to develop the model in other new health
neighbourhood centres in some of Derby’s disadvantaged
communities.
In January 2007 Charlotte Convey was appointed as the Arts Development
Worker for Revive and is currently delivering a range of projects at Revive.
Derby Dance
Derby Dance offers a series of Healthy Living Classes at their building base
on Chapel Street; these include: Pilates, Yoga, Children’s Yoga, Balletfit, and
Dance Plus (a class for mature movers). They are working in close
partnership with Derby City East and West School Sports Partnerships as well
as with the Council’s b-active Team to help increase physical activity in girls
and young women in the city. They have also met with Derby City PCT to
discuss dance and health project opportunities, which they hope to build on in
the future.
During 2004/5 members of the Arts and Regeneration Group, a sub-group of
the Arts Forum and Derby City Partnership, worked together to explore ways
of developing the arts and health agenda in the city .In February 2005 they
organised an Arts and Health conference which was attended by over 80
arts, community and health professionals. The aim of the conference was to
raise the profile of arts and health and to start to establish plans for the future.
Many of the outcomes from that conference are still valid today and have in
fact informed the actions in Section 3, How we get there.
Although there are currently a wealth of arts and health projects taking place
in the city, there is no strategic framework in place to ensure the continued
growth of arts and health in Derby. The development of such a framework
must be a priority for the future.
2. Where do we want to be in 5 years time?
The above programmes of work have raised the profile and understanding of
the role of arts and health in Derby, as well as giving a local evidence base to
continue to advocate the benefits of such work. This gives a platform from
which to develop an ambitious strategy for the future of arts and health in
Derby.
In April 2007 the Arts Council of England (ACE) published their national
framework for arts, health and wellbeing. This is the first national strategy of
its type and underlines the current support from the Arts Council for arts and
health. The two over arching aims for delivering the framework are:
To integrate the arts into mainstream health strategy and policy-
making, in order to make the case for a role for the arts in healthcare
provision across the whole country and for a wider remit for the arts in
terms of healthy living and wellbeing
To increase, and more effectively deploy, resources for arts and health
initiatives through funding, quality assurance of artists’ work and
advocacy
In parallel with this, Leicester Comedy Festival has been given the
regional development brief (set out by ACE and Public Health East Midlands),
with the following three key aims:
For the arts and health agenda to become 'mainstreamed' within
cultural agencies and local authorities, thanks to greater understanding
and buy-in from officers
For there to be a critical mass of health projects involving high-quality
artists and arts organisations
For the funding base for arts and health projects to be increased,
thanks to successful advocacy and more developed partnerships with
key public agencies
These key pieces of work will help inform Derby’s ambition over the next 5
years. The strong programmes of work taking place at Derby Hospital, Revive
and Derby Dance are exemplary and will also help shape future priorities. In
the next 5 years Derby should aim:
for the arts to play a significant role in the delivery of the city’s health
strategies, particularly the Public Health and Physical Activity Strategy
for the delivery of the arts and health agenda to be integral to a number
of the city’s key cultural organisations
to capitalise on existing good practice in the city and build programmes
of art and health work in the following priority areas:
o Healthy communities; working on neighbourhood initiatives to
improve Derby’s deprived neighbourhoods
o Built environment; supporting primary care plans for the
renovation and reconstruction of healthcare buildings in Derby.
o Children and young people; supporting the Healthy Schools
programme and working with Derby City Council as they provide
joined-up children’s services
to build appropriate resources to support this work
3. How do we get there?
There are a number of key building blocks inherent to the successful delivery
of this ambition:
Profile and Advocacy
Continue to raise the profile and understanding of the role of the arts in health
and advocate the benefits.
Partnerships
Develop cross-sector relationship-based working for the effective delivery of
arts in health
Improve networking at both regional and local level.
The Centre for Arts and Humanities in Health and Medicine (CAHHAM)
currently run the East Midlands Arts in Health Forum, which has over
150 members, a number of which are from Derby. Membership is free
as are many of the forum events which comprise an annual gathering,
learning days on topics suggested by members, and mentoring
sessions for individual projects and personnel. The aim is that by 2008
the forum will be self-governing, perhaps clustered into sub-regional
groupings determined by geography, the type of arts in health practice,
or work addressing a common health issue. Derby members could
consider creating a Derby Arts and Health Forum, as a sub group of
the Arts Forum
Develop membership and profile of arts and health within the Derby
City Partnership
Develop partnerships with the health sector, particularly those
responsible for health strategy development and those who
commission health services
Develop closer links with sports development, particularly the role of
arts within physical activity and the promotion of healthy lifestyles
Policy and Planning
o Explore ways of embedding arts within health planning and policy
through input into the city’s main planning mechanisms; for example,
Community Strategy, Health Improvement Plan, Local Area
Agreement, and so on.
Resource Development
o Identify the arts and health training needs of artists, arts organisations
and health workers and start to develop programmes around them
o Increase resources for arts and health work in the city, through
developing longer term partnership project proposals for arts and
health work around the key priority areas listed in Section 2.
4. How will we know when we’re there?
If in 5 years there is greater buy-in to the arts and health agenda, at both a
strategic and delivery level, by the City Council, the health sector and the
city’s arts organisations, then we know that the strategy has been successful.
The challenge will be however to manage and monitor the delivery of the
strategy.
The normal method to measure success is by target setting and continual
monitoring and evaluation. By its very nature, arts and health is cross-cutting
and requires a strategic approach and in-depth knowledge of the public
sector. Arts organisations working in isolation do not have the overview or
knowledge required. The presence and profile of Derby’s arts-and-health offer
within the city’s Local Area Agreement (LAA), therefore, is crucial in ensuring
the development, monitoring and evaluation of this work.
Alison Foote