Mapping of Initiatives on Culture, Health and Well-being

The project Musiques Brutes et Handicap has the objective to give the opportunity for a group of teenagers with autism spectrum disorders to experiment with music under real conditions of artistic creation. The young people from the Institut Médico-Professionnel Le Roitelet in Tourcoing are working with Franq De Quengo, musician and founder of the raw music festival Sonic Protest, and Thomas Masson, educator, in a musical residency that allows them to experiment with music, sounds and arts in a process of discovery and creation. The participants are involved in workshops and explorations to lead them towards a sensory and intuitive music practice. Using recycled objects, the young artists invent hybrid instruments, in particular by using wild instruments, accompanied by Julien Bancilhon and Benoit Poulain, musicians and luthiers, then, at their own pace and according to their desires, the young people compose songs that they have recorded by revisiting their favorite titles or by composing them.

AGAP for Art & Game aims to to put in place recommendations on the use of art and board games for prevention and treatment of cognitive diseases among seniors. AGAP was developed in 3 stages:
- A first survey (January 2021) with a group of of experts
- A second survey (February - March 2021) for experts but also for users based on the answers and question from the first step.
- A meeting of experts with a conference and an exhibition in June 2021

Roads of imaginary is a project that creatively supports the process of therapeutic education and autonomy in the face of the disease, of adolescent girls staying in this service. It is integrated into the therapeutic project designed by the caregivers for these young people. At the end of the courses, on Tuesdays in the afternoon, this program offers a group of young girls, the paths of body relaxation, collage, the trace by painting, drawing and/or writing, to gain confidence and autonomy.

Lights of imaginary is a project for women under treatment and post-treatment, who come to this resource place and embrace this creative proposal with great enthusiasm. The program takes place over a cycle of 8 meetings (with prior registration). It is a moment for oneself supported by the benevolence of the group, a parenthesis during the treatments. One Monday afternoon per week, participants are invited to express themselves through creative proposals that require no prior artistic knowledge.

Journey into imagination is a project done for the House of Patients and Relatives, a "resource" place outside the hospital. It has been going on for all these years, in close collaboration with the Institut Curie's care department. The art therapy program offered to patients takes place over a cycle of 8 meetings (with prior registration). Six to seven art therapy cycles are offered each year, accompanying about 60 patients. Within the framework of a supportive group dynamic, one Wednesday morning per week, participants are invited to relax and create with proposals that stimulate energy, imagination, personal resources and allow for self-care.

Imaginary Spaces project was designed to support, through creativity, the hospitalization of adolescents and young adults staying in the Onco-Hematology Department of the Edouard Rist Clinic. Hospitalized for the cancer follow-up care, often far from their families and their homes, this space allows them to take a break and find their bearings. On Thursday afternoons, they are offered a workshop time with activities around plastic creation, graphic design and writing. This program facilitates the following objectives: to explore, to be surprised, to escape and to gain confidence and autonomy.

VR Days Europe brings together professionals from the AV sector, technology, education and business with the following objectives: To unite the European Virtual and Augmented Reality community; To inspire creative minds and increase their capacity to develop new works with VR/AR/MR; To drive business forward and facilitate Business to Business exchanges in EuropeThe VR Days format is unique: focusing solely on VR content, bringing creators together with multiple sectors and investors to boost the content creation and business in this emerging industry. The project has a unique approach: it actively stimulates the production of quality VR content, because the success of the technology relies on content creation. Secondly, it has not only an international but also a much needed cross-sectoral focus, inviting professionals from the creative sector, health care, science, education and enterprise because VR also affects these industries. This opens up new markets and business models for the AV sector, not only across borders but also across sectors.
In addition to these 4 editions, in 2021 the project included a day dedicated to ‘Science, research and healthcare’ about the medical potential of XR. Following the WHO World Mental Health Day, ITW focused on how immersive technologies can help to beat the port-pandemic mental health crisis. How MedTech startup ecosystems like in Heidelberg embrace XR and how immersive technologies, such as those applied by the Amsterdam Skill Center, can be used to fight the projected shortfall of 18 million health workers by 2030 (WHO) and find out the latest insights on the magic combination of psychedelica and VR.

European cooperation project that contributes to preserve and transmit, through arts and culture, birth and maternity traditional knowledge and practices as part of European intangible cultural heritage. The project forsees the implementation of different types of participatory activities, such as the birth cafés, round tables, co-creation workshops, etc. in order to make different audiences (mothers and fathers, health workers, migrant womenm and men, artists, etc.) take part in the design of the exhibition by telling their stories, talking about topics related to birth and maternity, creating cultural materials and artworks, thus internalizing relevant information through practice and direct experience.
With the objective to preserve and transmit, through arts and culture, birth and maternity traditional knowledge and practices as part of European intangible cultural heritage, the project will conduct research on traditions, stories, objects and artworks; organize intercultural birth cafés where women can share their experiences; and invite women’s museums and artists to contribute with stories, objects, artworks and information to a travelling interactive exhibition on the topic of birth and maternity in Europe.

With the material collected, the project will design and create this exhibition, which will be held in the 4 target countries. It will strengthen the capacities of and collaboration between women’s museums in Europe to raise awareness on women’s health and sexual and reproductive rights; enhance intercultural dialogue and artistic co-creation around values and practices related to culture, birth and maternity and compare EU and non-EU practices; improve access of different audiences including migrants to European cultural and creative works and intangible cultural heritage. An online virtual catalogue will reach a wider audience. Migrant and women organizations, medical and non-medical professionals, artists, (migrant) women and men will be the main beneficiaries of the project’s activities, which will be adapted to local context and values, taking into account the diversity and richness of European intangible birth cultures.

Literary translation project aiming to:
1). Support marginalised voices and groups by translating literature of lesser-spoken languages into English that touches on issues of old age, alienation, disability, strained family relations, mental health, suicide, immigration, and displacement.
2). Develop and expand the audience for translated literature from those languages, particularly by building links with academics that teach translation and European Literature and through inclusion of those titles in translation journals and book clubs.
3). Make translated literature more readily available in digital formats through the creation of e-books.

The proposal for this thematic year came from the European Commission and it was adopted by Decision (EU) 2017/864 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017. EYCH was a wide-ranging and inclusive initiative involving all EU institutions, all EU Member States, 9 partner countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Georgia, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), as well as a broad array of cultural stakeholders. In EU Member States and in associated countries it was implemented by National Coordinators designated by the relevant Ministries.
The aim of the European Year was to encourage more people to discover and engage with Europe's cultural heritage, and to reinforce a sense of belonging to a common European space. The general objectives were: to encourage and support the efforts of the Union, the Member States and regional and local authorities, in cooperation with the cultural heritage sector and broader civil society, to protect, safeguard, reuse, enhance, valorise and promote Europe's cultural heritage. It created the momentum for cultural heritage to be placed higher on the EU’s agenda, through an integrated approach.
In order to prepare the European Year, a special edition of the Eurobarometer survey was carried out in late 2017, according to which 71% Europeans agreed that cultural heritage can improve quality of life. The types of actions during EYCH consisted in: initiatives and events to promote debate and raise awareness of the importance and value of cultural heritage and to facilitate engagement with citizens and stakeholders; information, exhibitions, education and awareness-raising campaigns to convey values such as diversity and intercultural dialogue; the sharing of experience and good practices of national, regional and local administrations and other organisations, and the dissemination of information about cultural heritage, including via Europeana; studies and research and innovation activities and the dissemination of their results on a European or national scale; and the promotion of projects and networks connected to the European Year.
EYCH highlighted the contribution of sustainable cultural tourism to urban and regional development and was an opportunity to explore how to balance the sustainability of cultural heritage with the benefits of tourism, not just in economic terms, but also for the well-being of local communities.