Baring Foundation - Health funding for the Arts: Winning the battle for hearts and minds but seldom for pockets
19/12/2024 | Author: David Cutler
David Cutler, Foundation Director and Arts programme lead, shares his concerns about funding for arts and health. We'd love to hear your thoughts too.
Blog post by David Cutler, the Baring Foundation, 12 December 2024
The full article can be found here.
Given my job running a funding programme, I am obviously biased but it seems to me that the attitude of senior leaders in the health sector is becoming ever more persuaded of the benefits of creativity to people with physical and mental health problems. This is based on pioneering work in hospitals and the community for at least the last fifty years. There is an ever-growing body of academic research such as the major SHAPER programme at King’s College London, along with multiple studies from Professor Daisy Fancourt, among others. At the recent SouthBank Centre event on young people, creativity and mental health we heard from people running enormous NHS organisations about their enthusiasm for creativity. The National Centre for Creative Health last year completed a five-year review of work in this area.
So with this weight of evidence and good will, why I am I so concerned?
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I would be very interested in your thoughts on these personal reflections. What is the trend overall? Given the absence of clear overall funding data, have I misinterpreted a small number of examples? Hopefully I have. If not, what can we collectively do about it?
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