Mapping of Initiatives on Culture, Health and Well-being

The initiative consists of a billboard being painted live on Avenida João Durval Carneiro, close to Colégio Polivalente. The artistic intervention, authored by the plastic artist Gesiel Ramos, alluded to the international movement for the prevention of prostate cancer, the Blue November. In addition to enjoying the live process of painting, those who pass by received informative pamphlets and also the mustache treat, representing the maturity of men for health care and prostate cancer awareness.

In December 2019, the Doutores da Alegria association implemented an artistic intervention inspired by Christmas into nineteen public hospitals. In São Paulo and Recife, the clowns reinterpret the theme and perform for hospitalized children, their companions and health professionals. In Rio de Janeiro, artists and musicians who have passed through the Plateias Hospitalares project made a musical procession through the hospitals.

The pilot project Art and Handicrafts in Emmaboda (KoHiE) was carried out as part of the three-year program Health and Culture in the Kalmar county. KoHiE aimed to investigate whether cultural initiatives in the form of study circles have an effect on perceived health and rehabilitation in people with mental illness. The hypothesis was that participation in cultural activities is a form of rehabilitation that facilitates recovery and thereby promotes the health of the participants. Two circles, one based on art activities, the other on felting, were carried out during the autumn of 2015 until May 2016. Each circle lasted for 10 weeks with two hits a week of three hours/hit and was led by an artist and a wool craftsman.

The project Culture in Close Care is a collaboration between healthcare, academia and culture, digital cultural experiences, including opera performances from The Metropolitan Opera (Met), that is made available to patients and relatives in care homes. The purpose of the project Culture in Close Care is to investigate whether digital cultural access is important for well-being and existential health for people who receive home care. The project also investigates how new models for play services such as the Met Opera on Demand can be made available to people in health and care; to inspire content producers to include the target group of the sick, the elderly, people with functional variations and relatives in their screen and VR productions; and to be able to meet a variety of personal interests in health and care.

The project give people on sick leave the opportunity to strengthen their health and break their social isolation through culture. Just recently, a group, consisting of members from Mullsjö and Habo municipalities, had a writing cabin and dancing in Mullsjö swimming hall's premises. The participants have tried theater, crafts such as weaving, silversmithing and ceramics. The group participates in KUR, culturally supported rehabilitation, which Region Jönköping County offers in collaboration with municipalities in the county.

Research shows that cultural experiences can actively contribute to health and faster rehabilitation. Participating in or experiencing cultural activities stimulates the senses, can contribute to well-being and a sense of context and meaning. KUR is carried out in groups together with professional cultural actors with experience of working with people. The rehabilitation lasts for ten weeks with two activities per week and ends with a reunion about three weeks after the completion of rehabilitation. Examples of cultural activities are self-creation, such as painting, felting and other cultural activities such as choir singing, dancing and movement. The group also takes part in cultural experiences such as concerts, theater performances and art exhibitions."

The project Culture on Prescription has been implemented in the Jönköping County Region with the aim of reducing ill health and increasing the return to work of people with easy to moderate mental illness and non-specific pain. Culture on prescription means that groups participate in various cultural activities, based on the referral received from specialists.

Art can activate mind, body and commitment, which is why the Arts and Mental Health Association established the Centre for Arts and Mental Health. In a collaboration between health professionals, professional artists and psychiatric users, storytelling workshops are developed and run with a focus on storytelling as a free space on the road to recovery.
The art-based platform Our Storytelling Centre, to be established under the auspices of the Centre for Arts and Mental Health, is aimed at adults with mental illness who participate in storytelling workshop groups during or after their treatment services in psychiatry and is thus a bridging effort in the transition between treatment and civilian life. In the workshops, the participants can experience a free space and that the group format allows for a social reorganization around the common artistic work.
The project should be seen as a post-hospital effort that bridges the gap between hospital and civil society and at the same time by qualifying psychiatric users as workshop leaders can also become a peer effort. In addition, with the involvement of volunteers and open events, the project build bridges to the surrounding community, just as radio podcasts and videos are becoming available online to a national audience.

Art and Health is one of Art promotion Scania's long-term projects, which has been ongoing since 2004 with support from Region Skåne. The project strives to give new impressions and give rise to conversations and discussion through art. The idea is to provide inspiration for more cultural experiences outside the project, create opportunities for meaningful activities and shared experiences for staff and care participants from elderly care. Art experiences give people more ways to communicate. In Art and Health, artists work with their art, in the way that suits all participants best, in order to carry out as good projects with their process to be characterized by flexibility both for the art, but also for the participants.

Direct interventions, research activities and training in music therapy for patients in adult and pediatric oncology, eating disorders and adolescent depression, intensive and pain therapy.