Title: Evaluating the Relationship between Arts and Cultural Engagement and Long-Term Health Outcomes in the UK
Funder: Arts and Humanities Research Council

Abstract: Research teams in the Nordic countries have generated evidence that regular exposure to cultural activities in general, and to film, live music and visual art in particular, increase longevity. In the UK, little analysis has been undertaken of the relationship between cultural participation and long-term health outcomes. The overarching aim of this research is to develop an evidence base for the long-term effects of arts and cultural engagement upon physical and psychological health. In its first phase, this Research Development Project will test the Nordic findings in a UK context, by analysing extant English data pertaining to arts participation and physical and psychological health. In this endeavour, multiple sources will be drawn upon - from the Taking Part survey (co-ordinated by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in partnership with Arts Council England, English Heritage and Sport England) to data gathered via the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale by arts and health organisations in Greater Manchester. A new dataset will be created and made widely available to arts and health researchers working in the UK and beyond, enabling analysis of the relationship between arts participation and physical and psychological health to continue beyond the end of this project. This research programme will then move to consider the validity of the data being collected in this area. The methods that are currently in use, or in the process of being developed, to assess the relationship between arts participation and long-term health benefits have generally been established at some distance from the international arts and health sector. This project will involve both UK-based stakeholders and international experts in a bid to determine how these metrics might be made more appropriate to the sector. Consultation with arts and health professionals in the UK and the Nordic countries will be vital to this process. This project is proposed by the strategic agency, Arts for Health, founded at Manchester Metropolitan University in 1987. Arts for Health maintains significant links with those active in the arts and health field in the Nordic countries, several of whom have expressed their willingness to be consulted. This research programme is expected to generate invaluable evidence about the relationship between arts participation and physical and psychological health. As such, the academic beneficiaries of this project range from those working in the cultural field to those engaging with research in medicine and neuroscience. Of equal importance will be the impact of the project upon non-academic beneficiaries, including policy-makers, professionals working at the interface between the arts and health and the broader population. If it proves possible to substantiate a positive correlation between arts participation and health, this will have considerable ramifications for the arts and health sector in particular and the cultural field in general. The consultation process involving national and international policy-makers and arts and health professionals will give rise to a series of recommendations which, if implemented, will transform the future of cultural provision. The innovative character of this project lies in its willingness to look beyond official statistics and current approaches, in a bid to elucidate measures appropriate to the aesthetic and cognitive character of arts participation. In its entirety, this project seeks to contribute to discussions around methods for evaluating the health outcomes of artistic participation that go beyond those found in the UK Treasury's 'green book'.


Research activity codes: 2.4 SURVEILLANCE AND DISTRIBUTION
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE