Partnerships from across Wales’ arts, health, social care and third sectors are being encouraged to apply for fresh funding to deliver creative projects addressing the country’s health challenges, as Wales continues to lead the way in arts and health innovation.

The fifth round of arts, health and wellbeing lottery funding opened on 7 December and closes 18 January 2023. The fund, which is open three times a year, invests annually in arts and health projects across Wales.

The fund, which has supported a range of projects including a singing programme for long COVID-19 patients and a dance project for social care staff, is one of several fundamental advances in arts and health in Wales achieved since the Arts Council of Wales signed a memorandum of understanding with the Welsh NHS Confederation in 2018, explained Sally Lewis, Arts, Health and Wellbeing Programme Manager at the Arts Council of Wales.

“The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated demand and need for creative activities that supported people’s health and wellbeing during the toughest of times,” said Ms Lewis.

“The growing pressures on the NHS in Wales also prompted a focus on preventative care that includes the arts as a useful way to support patients in community and primary care settings.”

Every health board in Wales now employs at least one arts and health coordinator to facilitate creative programmes for patients and staff in hospital and community settings, with three years of funding support from the Arts Council of Wales’ capacity-building programme

To support health and social care staff during difficult time, the Arts Council of Wales created the Cultural Cwtsh, a bilingual creative wellbeing resource supported by some of the nation’s leading artists. The Arts Council of Wales also funded a project to support artists’ wellbeing needs post-pandemic and numerous social prescribing programmes and its Arts and Minds partnership with the Baring Foundation and each of the health boards in Wales funds creative interventions supporting the mental health of health and care staff as well as patients across Wales.

Wales’ Arts for Health and Wellbeing Network has transformed from a meeting between a few engaged individuals to a training and development body with more than 600 members.

“There is a mounting body of evidence to prove being creatively active can help us stay well, and we have been focused on raising awareness of that evidence among medical practitioners particularly, supporting innovative arts and health projects so more people across Wales can enjoy the benefits,” said Ms Lewis.

“For the past five years, we have been working with a broad range of partners to build at a considerable pace on the longstanding but largely unsung good practice of a small number of committed practitioners in the field. We can’t wait to see what the next five years hold.”

More information on the Arts, Health and Wellbeing Lottery fund, including how to apply, can be found here.