CultureForHealth – A large scale EU project to promote culture and health in Europe

December 2021 marks the kick-off of CultureForHealth, a project co-funded by the European Commission with a grant of 500 000 €) and carried out by Culture Action Europe (project manager), Trans Europe Halles, the Northern Dimension Partnership for Culture, Danish Central Denmark Region, Centrul Cultural Clujean from Romania and Društvo Asociacija from Slovenia.

There is a rising awareness in the EU of the important role of cultural activities and the arts when securing mental health and well-being on both on an individual and collective level.

The partnership will run from December 2021 to May 2023 and investigate and develop the field within five areas. It will improve the exchange of knowledge and experiences in the EU related to the role of culture in well-being and health, identify the most relevant existing practices, improve opportunities for actors in the field, carry out at least five smaller pilot projects and make a set of policy recommendations. The “CultureForHealth” website, which will go online in January 2022, will feature news and results of the project.

“The Long term aim of the project is to trigger a real policy change and to create a reference platform for experimentation and policy development for a new cultural dimension in health, welfare and well-living.”

Tere Badia, Secretary General of Culture Action Europe

Pilot projects

The six CultureForHealth pilot projects include projects about live music in hospitals, museum experiences for people with dementia, cultural experiences against burnout in the workplace, as well as cultural experiences to strengthen social conditions, inclusion and mental well-being. All of the projects are being followed by researchers who will gather and publish the experiences and results in articles and reports as part of the CultureForHealth project.

Cross-sectorial exchanges all over Europe

During the 18 months, CultureForHeath will bring together EU and national policy makers and experts from the cultural, health and social fields and will share knowledge through a series of study visits, roundtables workshops and presentations, which will bring the project to Italy, Spain, Romania, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden.