Professor Lindsay Forbes, University of Kent, L.Forbes@kent.ac.uk
Collaborative research to tackle health inequalities by embedding community creativity into health systems
Funder: UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council – £2.4m
Start date: 1/4/24
End date: 30/3/27
Professor Lindsay Forbes (University of Kent), Professor Lucy Selman (University of Bristol) and Dr Barbara Mezes (University of Liverpool) are leading a large team of researchers and NHS, community and local government organisations on the project.
It focuses on three coastal areas of England with poor health outcomes, but a rich cultural and creative heritage: Hastings, Weston-Super-Mare and Blackpool. Priority areas include young people’s mental health, substance misuse, and life-limiting illness and bereavement.
We know that creative community activities benefit health, but these are rarely embedded into health policy and services. It is important that cultural and creative activities are recognised as ‘must-haves’ rather than ‘nice-to-haves’ for health and wellbeing.
We aim to embed community creativity into health systems by:
- increasing the visibility of creative groups and organisationsz
- building better links between creative groups, the NHS and local government
- strengthening links within the creative community
- raising awareness of local inequalities affecting health and wellbeing in all organisational sectors
- improving understanding of the benefits of creativity for health
- enhancing skills and knowledge for creativity in the community and the organisations serving it.
The team plans to develop a ‘how-to’ guide to embedding creativity into coastal communities and local systems, leading to improved health and wellbeing.
The project is funded by UK Research and Innovation under Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)’s Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities programme, which aims to improve health through access to culture, nature and community.
Who is involved
Dr Barbara Mezes, University of Liverpool, Principal Investigator
Professor Lindsay Forbes, CHSS, University of Kent, Co-Investigator and Lead for South East
Professor Lucy Selman, University of Bristol, Co-Investigator
Dr Sarah Hotham, CHSS, University of Kent, Co-Investigator
External Co-Investigators
Dr Alexandra Sawyer, University of Brighton,
Dr Alice Malpass, University of Bristol
Ms Alison Bancroft, Redport Ltd
Ms Beverley Ashmore, Community Artists CIC
Dr Buket Kara, Lancaster University
Dr Charlotte Chamberlain, University of Bristol
Mr David Moss, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB
Ms Fiona Matthews, Super Culture
Dr Heather Catt, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Ms Helen Shearn, Consultancy in Arts, Health, Heritage, and Wellbeing
Ms Helen Wheelock, Alliance Homes Group
Mr Henry Pollock, BoingBoing Foundation
Professor John MacLeod, University of Bristol
Mr Jon Hutchinson, Groundwork
Professor Josie Billington, University of Liverpool
Ms Judith Mills, Blackpool Council
Dr Julia Puebla Fortier, University of Bristol
Dr Lesel Dawson, University of Bristol
Ms Lisa Buttery, BoingBoing Foundation
Mr Mike Crowther, Empowerment Charity
(Image by Deborah Hudson from Pixabay)