Title: Researching Arts, Health and Wellbeing
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Research on Arts, Health and Wellbeing is found across many academic disciplines and creative agencies, but remains fragmented and intellectually diffuse. There is currently no identifiable research network that connects research in this area in the UK. The proposed Seminar Programme will bring into dialogue different academic and practitioner perspectives, involving established researchers and major organisations in the field of Arts, Health and Wellbeing. Through this dialogue, the aim of the Seminar Programme is fourfold: 1. to generate consensus on the 'big questions' for Arts, Health and Wellbeing research 2. to advance and deepen theoretical, conceptual and methodological research on the processes and practices in Arts, Health and Wellbeing 3. to develop strategies for advocacy and knowledge exchange with policy-makers, funders and arts agencies and practitioners 4. to establish the foundations for a national network in Arts, Health and Wellbeing The Seminar Programme will be organised by an informal academic network set up in March 2011, which comprises established academics and emerging centres of excellence in relation to Arts, Health and Wellbeing. The Programme builds on the expertise, achievements and collaborations of these academics to expand reach, capacity and coordination across arts and health agencies, relevant policy communities and funders as well as early career academics and post-graduates. The seminar programme will enable a space in which to explore and address the challenges of generating innovative research in Arts, Health and Wellbeing that is both intellectually engaging and of applied benefits. Our unifying concern is how the arts may contribute to wellbeing and health of individuals and communities, to the settings of health care, to therapeutic processes and to professional development, explorations that may have particular traction within current public sector restructuring. National networks in Arts, Health and Wellbeing are emergent in other countries to this end; it is timely to build our own national network in order to maintain an international reputation in the field. The collaborators on this proposal are also mindful of the need for a national network through which to establish formal links with similar networks in other countries. The Seminar Programme comprises four national meetings over two-years. Seminars will be one day events with 4-5 speakers and rooms for discussion and decision-making. The Programme will produce academic publications and policy and practice relevant briefing notes and we will follow-up through direct contacts with relevant policy and practitioner agencies, with web-based networking and a five page national bench-making statement on the state of arts and health research and the future agenda. The seminars will be as follows: 1] Existing knowledge, contested approaches and future agenda March, 2013, Nottingham. The first seminar aims to map the terrain of existing research across different disciplines, identify consensus and conceptual tensions and build an academic agenda for cross-disciplinary research. 2] The place of arts and health research and practice in contemporary society September 2013, Bristol. The second seminar aims to examine the challenges for research and practice in Arts, Health and Wellbeing within contemporary values or framings in the political, economic and health domains. 3] New encounters of social theory and the creative arts March, 2014, Glasgow. The third seminar aims to examine the potential of engagement and participation in particular art forms to facilitate health and wellbeing through empowerment, voice and representation. 4] Strategies for advocacy, knowledge transfer and networking September, 2014, London. The final seminar aims to explore barriers to awareness of and mobilisation of arts and health interventions, the information and action needs to challenge such barriers.


Research activity codes: 8.5 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (HEALTH SERVICES)
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE