It is already happening in many healthcare and social institutions: a musician plays at a patient's bedside; an artist plays music on a ward; a group of people in a community centre create art together. This is the practice of arts in health.
The forms of arts in health practice
Participatory arts in health projects focus on supporting well-being. The goal is to help people relax, feel less alone, and to live in an active, curious, and engaged way. For example, artists encourage art-making among patients in hospitals, among healthcare workers, and with people in the community. While there is some training for participatory arts in health practice in the Netherlands, it currently has no national certification or professional register.
Creative arts therapy can be a form of treatment as well as support for general wellbeing. Most often, creative arts therapies have specific health goals. Creative arts therapists use art-making as treatment, for example, for psychological issues or rehabilitation. Creative arts therapists can do participatory arts as well, but they are trained and nationally registered as therapists.
Some examples
More and more arts practices are finding a place in the lives of long-term care residents, and numerous wonderful initiatives are under way. Other examples include the work of artists Sjaak Langenberg and Rose de Beer, who are setting up unique initiatives across the Netherlands. Dutch arts in health initiatives vary in form, but they all create space for contact, imagination and wellbeing.
There are plenty of examples at the organisational level too. Vitalis in Eindhoven has worked with an art coordinator for 25 years and currently employs three. AxionContinu has 15 years of experience working with an art coordinator. In Amsterdam, Cordaan's Ambulant Kunstteam brings artists into neighbourhoods, where they make art together with residents. Art programmes can also be found in mental healthcare and in care for people with disabilities, such as at Lister and Reinaerde.
Arts in Health Groningen is using pilot projects to build a permanent place for the arts in healthcare in the North, for example with arts programs for staff at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) and through the Buur & Boek community program with NOORDWOORD, using shared reading and creative writing to bring neighbourhood residents together. At Dijklander Hospital too, live music is becoming a regular part of in-patient care.
For arts in health professionals
Arts in health programmes often begin as pilots, which are opportunities to make visible what effects the arts can have on people’s wellbeing. Arts in health pilots answer the questions of sceptics, and help planning for permanent, sustainable programmes.
Do you work in a healthcare institution?
If you are thinking about creating a participatory arts in health pilot in an organisation or institution, begin by taking note of where the arts might support well-being as part of the regular day. Find others who are excited by the idea, and who can help you make connections. Decide who the pilot’s participants will be. Start small, create a budget, and document all of your work.
Are you an artist or maker?
If you want to propose a project in a community, long-term care facility, or hospital, begin by finding out as much as you can about what activities already happen there, and learn how existing programs shape the lives and work of people there. Are there particular challenges being addressed there that you could support? What types of care do the people there actually need? Find people who are open to your idea and who will connect you to others in the community or organisation.
You don't have to develop an arts in health project from scratch. A good way to begin is to imagine how the work that you already do could give care and support to people who need it. Whatever art form or approach you use, it should be appropriate for the participants and the setting.
What Arts in Health Netherlands does
Arts in Health Netherlands connects people and organisations committed to building the field in this country. Our work is organised around four themes: practice, research, policy, and education. Our members bring their experience, knowledge, and networks to one or more of those themes. This is building a solid field in the Netherlands, step by step. While practitioners from many organisations are involved in AiHN, three organisations are currently taking the lead in building content for the practice theme:
Knowledge from practice
To gain a better understanding of practice in the Netherlands, the practice group has developed an inventory of practices that assembles over 220 arts in health initiatives. The report shows where initiatives have taken place, the types of collaborators involved, and the themes, target groups, and types of funding. It also shows which factors contribute to successful and sustainable arts in health practices. Together, they offer an initial overview of where the field currently stands and what is needed to develop it further.
Effective elements in art, care, and well-being
Which factors make arts in health successful? Based on a survey of professionals from the care, well-being, and culture sectors, this report describes effective elements, preconditions, and recommendations for sustainable practice.
Read more
- Boeken over arts in health
- Academische tijdschriften
- Rapport: volgende stap voor arts in health-netwerk
- Culture for Health and Well-being Compendium
- Arts Council Ireland, arts in health Handbook
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