Thirteen projects have been awarded £340,000 in innovation funding to support ideas that improve people’s health and wellbeing through creative activities.
The projects, based throughout Wales, are part of HARP - Health, Arts, Research, People - an innovation and research partnership between Arts Council of Wales and Y Lab (Cardiff University & Nesta). Each project will receive funding and structured support from all the partners, including Wales Arts Health and Wellbeing Network and Nesta’s People Powered Results team, until 2022.
The projects aim to reach people who might be experiencing challenges in their health and wellbeing, whether that’s mental health, living with dementia, experiencing isolation or discrimination. Through HARP, the projects will also consider how creative activities that support health and wellbeing can become more financially sustainable, inclusive and scalable.
Projects announced today include:
- Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) will support Black healthcare workers during the pandemic to tell their story of the pandemic.
- Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, working with the Regional Substance Misuse Partnership and Adra, will deliver online Welsh language creative workshops for groups of people with alcohol dependency in Gwynedd.
- A partnership programme in Pembrokeshire across the arts, health and local authority that will build resilience of isolated individuals and communities through a Remote Choir, Theatr Soffa and Shared Worlds (Poetry).
- A new co-designed online dance programme for older people living in Powys with the specific challenges of dementia and mental health problems, who struggle to stay active and maintain social connectivity.
Phil George, Chair of Arts Council for Wales said:
"I’m thrilled by the ambition of these HARP projects. There’s now a widespread understanding of the huge value of the arts in promoting mental and physical health – and the pandemic has given us rich and powerful evidence of that value. But working with our partners at Y Lab and the Welsh NHS Confederation, the Arts Council of Wales knows that we need to continue to innovate in responding to health needs and also to investigate crucial questions such as how to scale up provision. Above all, we know that health interventions have a distinctive capacity to address the brutal inequalities revealed and made worse by the pandemic. These projects will create new possibilities for impact on the wellbeing of the people of Wales".
Rosie Dow, Programme Manager for HARP at Y Lab said:
“This feels like such an important moment for arts and health in Wales. As we all continue to navigate the effects of the pandemic it seems more vital than ever to work together in partnerships and networks. HARP will create that space to collaborate across health, care and the arts to find new ways of addressing the health and care challenges we all face. We also want to make sure the positive benefits of all the creative innovation that’s happened in health and care over the past year can be sustained and brought to more people in Wales.”
Nesta Lloyd-Jones, Assistant Director at Welsh NHS Confederation:
“The Welsh NHS Confederation warmly welcomes the funding announced to support the brilliant arts and health projects across Wales that will help improve people’s health and wellbeing through creative activity. Over recent years, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen how the arts can build the physical and mental health and wellbeing of patients, healthcare staff and the wider public and these initiatives will be a core part of our preventative approach to health and care in Wales. NHS organisations across Wales are seeing the value of arts activity and are embracing this work with ever-increasing enthusiasm. Through this funding we hope that we can develop and embed the arts into health practice, growing expertise and reaching larger numbers of people.”
Please visit the Y Lab website for a full list of projects funded through HARP.
About HARP
HARP - Health, Arts, Research, People - is an innovation and research partnership between Arts Council of Wales and Y Lab (Cardiff University & Nesta), to explore how we can generate, grow and learn about impactful creative innovations that support the health and wellbeing of the people of Wales.
We know that the arts can have a hugely positive impact on our health and wellbeing. However we also recognise that designing and embedding creative activities for health and wellbeing can be complex and uncertain, particularly during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. HARP seeks to learn more about how we can meet these opportunities and challenges in Wales, through combining grant funding with network building, coaching and research for arts and health innovators. We are doing this with support from Nesta’s People Powered Results team, the Wales Arts, Health and Wellbeing Network and the Welsh NHS Confederation.
About Y Lab
Y Lab is the public services innovation lab for Wales. Formed in 2015, it is a partnership between Nesta, an innovation foundation, and Cardiff University. We work to support public service innovators in Wales with funding, expertise and guidance to test their ideas. We research how and why innovation happens in public services.
About Arts Council of Wales
The Arts Council of Wales is the country’s official public body for funding and developing the arts. Every day, people across Wales are enjoying and taking part in the arts. We help to support and grow this activity. We do this by using the public funds that are made available to us by the Welsh Government and by distributing the money we receive as a good cause from the National Lottery. By managing and investing these funds in creative activity, the Arts Council contributes to people’s quality of life and to the cultural, social and economic wellbeing of Wales.
About the Welsh NHS Confederation
The Welsh NHS Confederation is the national membership body representing the 11 organisations that make up the NHS in Wales; the seven Local Health Boards, the three NHS Trusts and Health Education and Improvement Wales.
Contact information:
Engagement and Communications Manager
+44 (0) 7511456729