Mapping of Initiatives on Culture, Health and Well-being

Shared Sentence make films and podcasts with people who want to share their lived experiences. They collaborate with other organisations to promote the materials in order to influence social change. Shared Sentences has specific objectives in arts and health/wellbeing: building skills, increasing confidence, creating films that represent lived experiences, and show the range of services offered by Glasgow Criminal Justice so people can access them.

F’Ħakka t’Għajn (All of a sudden) is a community theatre project by older adults and theatre practitioners. Through recreational dramatic activities, workshops and discussions, the group collaborates to produce a theatre performance.
The project investigates the impact, in terms of wellbeing, confidence, social engagement and sense of belonging, that active theatre collaboration can have on a group actors and non-actors, mostly aged over 65.

The Suitable Citizens project engages with the challenges of integration and inclusion of third country nationals in arts events and projects. It aims to bring artists and non-professionals together to work in a non-hierarchical process of co-creation, and to study the impact of participatory art on societal challenges related to a sense of belonging and citizenship.
Amid prejudice against migrants, the project aims to empower third-country nationals through the training of creative skills. As well as this, the dissemination stage of the project aims to shift perceptions of this participant group.
The project is a collaboration with the local branch of the Jesuit Refugee Service – an NGO which works with migrants to provide practical support and advocate for their rights in Malta. Jesuit Refugee Service has brought participants to the project through their networks, taking note of potential participants’ language, availability and interest in creative tasks.
The participants will attend a series of workshops, first focusing on photography skills with mobile phones, then learning about silk-screen printing techniques, and finally working on sewing and design skills.

The project introduces people with dementia living in the community to creative storytelling, in a bid to stimulate memory, reduce social isolation, and empower caregivers to support their family members using creative skills.
The project equips participants with key creative skills, providing an enjoyable space for self-expression, validation and prioritisation on the participants' own terms. Play, in particular, is being used on account of its ability to explore expressional potential, meaning-making and relationship building.

The project consists of 122 pottery sessions during 127 weeks for children who are facing a loss or serious illness in their family, which affects them socially and psychologically. Together with Alka Ceramics, the project uses clay according to Patricia Sherwood's book "Clay Therapy", which provides direction for using the powerful medium of clay to help children face various problems including anger, sadness, and fear. The project psychotherapist listens to the children describing their creations and provides explanations to any questions the children might raise.

People over 60 years old can meet every two months in Teatru Malta to participate in theatre sessions in “60+ Club”. The main aim of these sessions is to inspire creativity and strengthen existing drama and theatre skills, as well as to offer participants new tools to become better actors, remind them of a happier time and encourage them to have fun together.
Participants learn improvisation skills and games related to theatrical genres and improve their vocal techniques, as well as being encouraged to write poems/monologues, read texts, move to become physically lighter and share their life experiences through stories in a fun spirit.
During the ageing process, art can play a vital role. Participation in the arts stimulates the senses, enlivens people both mentally and emotionally, and promotes physical and cognitive health. The arts provide opportunities for healing, self-expression and learning at a time when physiological, cognitive and social health begins to fail.

Teatru Malta aims to help with its creative programme for older people to keep exercising the brain to slow down their brain ageing.

The theatrical production Il-Pożittivi was made to put a focus on the stigma of people living with HIV in Malta. The pilot project Il-Pozittivi works with people living with HIV, participants were asked about their lives, prejudice they encountered, and their experiences of living with HIV in Malta.
People living with HIV still fear of discrimination, (self-)stigmatisation, alienation and loneliness. By disclosing their status they fear repercussions to their day-to-day life. The play (in Maltese) is a theatrical production that addresses the specific issues faced by people living with HIV and the day-to-day matters that impact their lives. The dramaturgy aspires to create characters that will provide new roles for Maltese speaking LGBTIQ actors.

Is-Siġra tat-Tin (The Fig Tree) was created through a collaboration with Opening Doors - an association that provides creative opportunities for adults with intellectual disabilities and hosts performances on a yearly basis, showcasing the work developed by its artistic leaders and trainees. The collaboration provided a creative space for participants to explore themes and subjects which mattered to them and which they wanted to share with audiences, such as the topic of romantic and sexual relationships.
Is-Siġra tat-Tin was created to bring professional theatre practitioners together in creative participation with people with intellectual disabilities. During the process, participants talked about how participation in creative activity can improve their livelihoods and wellbeing. During the process, researchers assessed the impact of the involvement of people with intellectual disabilities in arts-related activities on public attitudes toward social inclusion.

Step up for Parkinson’s takes a research-and-evidence-based interdisciplinary approach to caring, the initiative provides free specialised movement classes in the community to people with Parkinson's Disease (PD) and their caregiver – challenging the myths and stereotypes associated with PD and PD sufferers, while raising awareness about the disease in Malta. The organizers are offering these classes free of charge, to raise more awareness about Parkinson’s disease and the role of the care givers and finally to continuously improve the methods through extended research and development. Their vision is to help people with Parkinson’s disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and their caregiver in Malta through movement classes, to reach more people globally living with Parkinson’s disease and improve their quality of life through the online and community courses.

In 2011 Madrid Salud, the public body of the Madrid City Council that is responsible for the prevention and promotion of health in the city, signed an agreement with the Complutense University of Madrid, in anticipation of possible benefits from the collaboration of art with prevention and health promotion. Madrid Salud has a network of 16 community health centres at its disposal and 5 dedicated specialist centres, Youth’s or Prevention of Cognitive’s ones, distributed over the city. Around 400 professionals work in interdisciplinary teams (including nurses, doctors, specialists in gynaecology, psychiatry, pediatrics and psychology, social workers, health auxiliaries and administrative staff).
After several years of collaboration and evidence of very positive results, both institutions are convinced that this partnership offers great opportunities and potential, and this cross- sectoral collaboration (university-health service) has been enabling the benefits of Arts in prevention and health promotion programmes in Madrid city. Since 2011, students and Early Career Researcher in Arts and Health, have joined in Madrid Salud’s teams and art professionals have been recruited also, for some specific programmes about isolation or grief. Madrid Salud is working on ensuring sustainability in these Arts and Health approach, supporting Early Career Researchers in Arts and Health and providing scholarships for researchers in Arts and Health every year, since 2017.
Photography, performance, drawing, sculpture, textile art, painting, water colours, calligraphy, visual poetry, haiku, sculpture, vertical gardens, urban allotments, graffiti, among other techniques and artistic workshops, have been developing in collaboration with students and researchers in different community health centres in collaboration with the health professionals. This arts and health approach has been incorporated in programs as healthy diet, physical activity, sexual and reproductive health, active ageing, or mental health. The evidence of this cross-sectoral collaboration has been compiled in conferences, papers, and doctoral thesis, co-creating meaningful knowledge about the role of the arts in Prevention and Promotion.