Mapping of Initiatives on Culture, Health and Well-being

In the project Thinking Room provided by KKPH, people with mental health problems can participate in courses with professional artists in various art forms, techniques and expressions. Participants interact with artists in small groups in the artists' spaces or the musicians' studio. Participation is self-defining, so people who sign up for the courses have defined themselves into the target group. The courses run over 2 to 5 hours, once a week, over 6 to 10 weeks.
KKPH is a collaboration between the City Council Department for Culture, Diversity and Gender Equality and the City Council Department for Work, Social Affairs and Housing. KKPH is organizational under the Ministry of Culture with a city-wide responsibility. It arranges courses and activities in the districts, at municipal activity houses for the target group, with funds from KKPH.

KKPH online gallery is a digital gallery on the website kkph.no. It is operated by Bergen Municipality, a structure part of the Ministry of Culture. The target group for the online gallery is people with mental health problems. Participation is self-defining. The number of annual exhibitions will vary, depending on whether separate exhibitions or joint exhibitions are set up in collaboration with other actors in the field of art / culture and mental health. Who gets an exhibition space in KKPH's online gallery is decided by the curator and gallery owner, in consultation with the artistic council.

MOT82 UNG is a newly started follow-up offer for young people from 16 to 20 years with mental challenges. They offer individual lessons and group sessions. They provide activities such as studio recording, songwriting, singing, instrument training, listening to music and interacting. They also organize concerts where participants have the opportunity to perform on stage. The offer is well suited for those who have participated in music therapy sessions before, but also for those who have not been in treatment, but who are in the target group. The music therapy project MOT 82 (Music-Follow-up-Offer) for people with mental challenges started in 2014.

Kraftverk is a collection of poems and short prose that is published twice a year, an online edition and a printed edition. Bergen Municipality publishes the magazine. This initiative gives voice to unrecognized writers who are or have been mentally ill, and who want to express themselves in a fictional language. All unrecognized writers who define themselves in the target group can submit texts for evaluation to be published in Kraftverk. Texts must not have been published publicly before, neither printed nor digital. Kraftverk receives between 150 and 200 texts for each release, and around 30 of these are published. The texts are evaluated by an editorial team. Each release of Kraftverk is celebrated with an open launch event: writers with readings, speakers on various literary topics, and guest artists participate.

The new hospital in Drammen will be a local hospital for Drammen, Lier, Hurum, Røyken and Sande and have area functions for all residents within the entire Vestre Viken HF's coverage area. The art project for a new hospital is a collaboration between the project organizations of Helse Sør-Øst and Vestre Viken and is led by an art committee consisting of architects, art members, user representatives, employee representatives and representatives from the project organizations. It is a project through which five areas in the hospital, where bot patients and staff will travel a lot, have been selected for new works of art, proposed by several artists. It is an ongoing process in which the artists are developing and presenting their preliminary works, they receive feedback from the art committee and they continue to develop, and produce the works that in 2025 will be placed in the new hospital.

Mental Health Nordre Aker (MHNA) was established in January 2008. They developed Art, mastery and joy of life rehabilitation project. Target group is represented by people who have a mental health problem, as well as those who need to build up their social network. The goal is to give people with a mental health problem motivation to engage in a creative activity and feel empowered by participating in a group and improving their quality of life. There were a wide range of activities from visits to Museum of Contemporary Art, the Munch Museum and the National Gallery to lectures on art as a form of expression, study trips, painting courses and art exhibitions.

The National Competence Center for Culture, Health and Care carry out studies and develops song, dance and other cultural expressions in a health and care professional framework, through research, education and practice. The competence center is involved in larger and smaller projects, both self-run and in collaboration with others. The National Competence Center for Culture, Health and Care carries out the training program Music-based environmental treatment together with Nord University. Music-based environmental treatment is an educational program on environmental treatment with integrated use of music and song for the health and care services. They provide courses and training programs for employees in the health and care sector who work closely with users and patients of all ages and with various diseases and disorders, based on music, song and movement used within clinical settings. The training program is divided into three different training courses: ABC Music-based environmental treatment; Collection-based course; Higher education.

The Center for Information and Social Improvement (QIPS), marks the Mental Health Week, through the event Art Therapy. The first edition was organized in 2020 and the second edition of 'Art Therapy' (2021) started with a lecture by three psychologists from different fields. The purpose of these activities were to break down barriers to talking about mental health and participation is free for all. QIPS is a Kosovo-based NGO dedicated to social improvement in the country. Their goal is to raise awareness and find solutions for problems affecting the population from a social perspective.

The think tank Music & Health is an interdisciplinary community of action made up of organizations and experts who want to create a healthier life with music. The initiative started especially as a response to several Danish studies that show that music has a real health-promoting effect and that 3 out of 4 Danes believe in music's health-promoting effect. In order to prioritize music as a strategic part of the health care system, a number of patient associations, researchers, doctors, music therapists, composers, and representatives from regions and municipalities have joined forces in a community of action. The main purpose of the Think tank Music & Health community is to equip decision-makers and practitioners to use music as a key instrument in healing practices.

Cultural Vitamins is a program that has been carried out in the north of Denmark with testimonials and positive effects. In 2016, the Center for Mental Health in Aalborg Municipality applied for SATS pool funds for a three-year culture on-prescription program for citizens on sick leave with stress, anxiety and depression. The pool was administered by the National Board of Health, which was thus responsible for the applicable guidelines. Aalborg Municipality was among the four municipalities that received rate pool funds. The other municipalities were Nyborg, Silkeborg and Vordingborg. The project in Aalborg has been prepared by the Health and Culture Administration and is anchored in the Center for Mental Health. The project ran over ten weeks with two to three weekly meeting times with a duration of between two to three hours, giving participants to take part in singing groups, guided joint reading activities, and other cultural activities that can improve the mental health of the participants. The initiative continues up to this day, offering both adults and young people mental support through cultural prescriptions.