Director's Blog - June 2026

01/07/2026 | Author: Angela Rogers

Dear Members,

It is with great sadness that I learnt about the passing of Clive Parkinson this month - he will be deeply missed by many across our sector - a true giant of arts and health whose influence has shaped thinking, practice and policy in the UK and internationally. Addressing social inequities has been central to his thinking and practice, and his work has always had a strong focus on mental health and living well across the life-course as well as being an early advocate for the voice of lived and living experience. He was warm and kind and one of the funniest people I have known. His legacy will live on in all that we do.

Earlier this month the Welsh Government set out their priorities for arts and culture.

“Culture and sport are areas of importance, not optional or simply nice to have.” (Cabinet Secretary for Culture & Sport, Heledd Fychan)

The statement highlighted the fundamental role that the arts and culture play in prevention and building a sustainable health service.

“This Government believes in the power of culture and sport to transform lives, to contribute to the vision of moving towards a preventative health agenda to place our Health Service on a more sustainable footing, and because we are determined to build a Wales where creativity thrives.”

She went on to describe how she looks forward to working across portfolios and with stakeholders and the people of Wales to deliver this new strategy and vision. WAHWN looks forward to supporting this ambition and ensuring it is embedded within policy and practice and enabling opportunities for our members to make sure their voices are heard within the consultation process.

We look forward to welcoming Minister Heledd Fychan to our next Cynefin webinar event. Over the next 6 months we will jointly deliver a series of events aimed at positioning the arts as a frontline public service. Our first event in the series ‘Best Start in Life’ this month brought together over 120 delegates to learn about the challenges, hear the evidence, share learning and listen to lived experience. Our exceptional line up of contributions included - ‘Nurturing Dads’ Inside Out Cymru; Melodies for Mums, Breathe Arts Health Research; Dwylo Bach, Making Sense CIC; Parent Infant Foundation and StARTing Well, Hywel Dda UHB.

You can watch the full webinar here.

Our cohort of senior arts and health leader Cynefin Champions have a key advocacy role and together will help shape practical policy recommendations. Reflecting on the evidence and practice shared, Philip Daniels, Public Health Lead, CTMUHB - “It’s time to put the pedal to the floor.”

Our upcoming events, all focused on Marmot principles, will take place on:

9th September - healthy communities and places;
24th September - an in-person event in Port Talbot focusing on ill health prevention
21st October – a focus on health inequalities.

We hope you can join us. Booking links to follow shortly.

Last week The Office of the Future Generations Commissioner held their latest Culture Forum in Pontypridd with over 100 delegates attending from the public and cultural sectors across Wales. Alongside celebrating local cultural organisations and artists, the forum welcomed the first direct address from Minister Heledd Fychan to the culture sector since she took on her new role last month. Freelancer in Residence, WFGO Tracy Breathnach said “Heledd Fychan expressed her passion for culture and her intention to work with us, in the culture sector. Culture, she said, is not just a reflection of who we are now, it has the power to shape who we will be in the future. We need to ensure that we make it resilient for future generations. Culture, she reminded us, is a fundamental right for everyone, and she wants Culture in Wales to be confident, inclusive and forward-thinking. She will share the new Culture Strategy in the coming weeks, along with implementation plans and measures. She wants to see whole system change that reflects the power and preventative potential of culture, and creativity being part of national life.”

Tracy’s reflections on key takeaways from the Forum included:-

We must work locally, delivering interventions at street level, neighbour to neighbour.
We need to train staff in public bodies to understand what culture is and the potential for it across services.
Culture is a driver of wellbeing and prevention agendas.

In other news…

Storytelling for Health Conference

At this year’s Storytelling for Health Conference at USW, I had the pleasure of chairing a panel exploring the role of narrative in health and wellbeing through the lens of the Literature Wales Chronic Women project. My panellists – Rosie Dow, ACW; Claire Furlong, Literature Wales; Sarah Goodey, ABUHB and Dr Helen Munro discussed unheard voices, storytelling to influence systems change and opportunities going forward. Recent USW MA Arts Health & Wellbeing graduate Pauline Le Britton was our artist in residence, inviting delegates to help create the ‘Storytellers Way’ story chain, inviting stories and reflections over the two days. It was inspiring to hear Lesley Goodburn of the NICE (National Institute for Health & Care Excellence) sharing how the stories of lived experience are influencing decision making and aims to embed the arts across the organisation. I look forward to exploring future collaborations with the NICE team. My key tatkeaways from the event were:

Stories connect evidence to lived experience
Narrative can shift power and perspective
Listening is as important as telling
Co-creation builds trust and relevance

Baring Foundation Creatively Minded and Resourceful

The Baring Foundation continues to strengthen the national conversation, highlighting the importance of being both creatively minded and resourceful when it comes to evidence. As we gather data and stories across our network, there is a clear opportunity to align our work with this wider UK evidence base - ensuring that what is happening in Wales is visible, credible and influential. You can check out their new resource here.

WAHWN Network Meetings

Our network meetings continue to reflect the breadth of work across Wales. Continuing the theme of the Best Start in Life, we were delighted to welcome Jennifer Abell, Live Music Now to talk about the Lullaby Project for our June meeting. Focusing on the other end of the lifespan, Dr B Creative (Bethan Ryland) shared her creative ageing work across a number of partner organisations and care homes, including bespoke silent discos. Dr Catherine Jenkins and Dr Menna Brown, Swansea University shared their new Nature-Based Social Prescribing Toolkit and training offer. The toolkit aims to help organisations develop and strengthen their capacity for evaluation, supporting them to better understand and demonstrate their impact.

We hope you can join us for our July meeting, when we welcome Iona Ynyr to talk about the ACW Welsh Language Consortium, alongside Mared Roberts from Literature Wales on Chronic Women and hear about the Troedio Tonnau – a young peoples’ grief focused intervention, from Buddug Roberts and Manon Gwynant.

Onwards and upwards!

Angela

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