UK Arts & Health: The Time is Now

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Post-Event Policy Brief

This roundtable, held at UK Parliament brought together policymakers, healthcare and cultural leaders, researchers, doctors, people with lived experience and artists to explore how the arts can play a more central role in advancing health and wellbeing across the United Kingdom and beyond. This post-event policy brief outlines the key insights and actionable recommendations emerging from the roundtable.

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UK Arts & Health

The Time is Now

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Executive Summary

At a time of accelerating global interest in the health benefits of the arts, there is growing recognition that creativity, culture, and artistic engagement are not peripheral to health and well-being, but central to it. Momentum is building internationally, reflected in increasing attention from the World Health Organization, major medical journals including The Lancet, policymakers, clinicians, researchers, and artists themselves.

The United Kingdom is uniquely positioned to lead this field. With a strong history of arts and health practice, internationally recognised research, and established partnerships across healthcare, cultural, academic, and community sectors, the UK has become a global reference point for demonstrating the impact of the arts to health and well-being. Evidence increasingly demonstrates that arts and cultural engagement can deliver significant health economic benefits, including long-term savings across wider public systems, reduced demand on overstretched services, lower rates of chronic illness and social isolation, and improved health outcomes in the communities that need it most. Against this backdrop, the roundtable brought together policymakers, healthcare and cultural leaders, researchers, doctors, people with lived experience and artists to explore how the arts can play a more central role in advancing health and wellbeing across the United Kingdom and beyond. This post-event policy brief outlines the key insights and actionable recommendations emerging from the roundtable.

Recommendations for Action

Convene a Joint Select Committee Inquiry into Creative Health
Deliver a Joint National Framework for Action for Creative Health
Embed Creative Health in Clinical Training Pathways
Harness Creative Health to Build the Economic Wealth of the Nation

Key Insights

Cultural Engagement as a Health Behaviour
UK is a Global Leader in Arts and Health
Arts as a Health Economic Asset
The Translation Challenge: Bridging Two Systems

Read the Post-Event Policy Brief

Voices from the Roundtable

A snippet of thoughts spoken at the convening

Dr. Zubir Ahmed

"The first mistake I made when I became a surgeon was thinking it was all about maths. Surgery taught me that it is about creativity. Creativity is inherent in all of us, and when you embrace it, you realise the impact you can have on patients and lives around you ... and over the past decade, I have embraced the arts in clinical care.”

John Slinger, Labour MP for Rugby

"As a musician, I’ve experienced the physical and mental benefits of the creative arts. They build skills, strengthen communities, bring joy and support the economy. However, as a politician I’ve learned evidence alone isn’t enough. We need a cultural shift that treats the arts as essential for all, backed by funding and long-term support."

Dr. Darren Henley CBE (CEO, Arts Council England)

"Art is a tonic. In a time when we spend a lot of time talking about technology, this is about our humanity. Art and artists are at the centre of that humanity. ... It’s all about how we become healthier and happier human beings."

Dame Caroline Dinenage DBE (Conservative MP for Gosport; Chair, Culture Select Committee; Co-Chair APPG on Creative Health)

"1.3 million people in the UK are currently unable to work due to mental health conditions—yet we know prevention saves NHS resources. Creative health has a proven role in supporting recovery and building resilience; the question is no longer whether it works, but whether governments are prepared to act systematically and invest.”