WAHWN News
Arts Council of Wales’ new Head of Arts, Health and Wellbeing sets out vision
Rosie Dow, the Arts Council of Wales’ new Head of Arts, Health and Wellbeing, has described her first month in post as “an absolute pleasure” and says it has been “a privilege” to take on the role.
Just a month into the job, Rosie - who has a background of senior leadership roles within the arts, health and community sectors – says she is “hugely privileged” to be building on the foundations laid by her predecessor Sally Lewis.
“It’s a fantastic sector to work in, it’s a fantastic country to work in,” Rosie told WAHWN in an exclusive interview earlier this month, adding that she can’t be “anything but excited and happy to be in the role”.
Rosie, who previously ran a major arts and health innovation programme with Nesta, Cardiff University, the Arts Council of Wales and all the Welsh Health Boards called HARP (Health, Arts, Research, People), has had to hit the ground running during what is a busy period for the sector, with important decisions required immediately on funding through the Arts, Health and Wellbeing Lottery Fund – the Arts Council’s largest programme supporting the sector.
“We’ve paid out 11 grants over the past couple of weeks,” she said, supporting both new projects and more established work looking to scale.
A key priority, she explained, is continuing to tell the story of arts and health in a way that shows it is not peripheral: “This work is not just at the fringes of the arts sector, it’s not just at the fringes of the health sector – it’s core.”
Rosie, who previously led strategy, engagement and impact programmes for the Social Biobehavioural Research Group at University College London, a WHO Collaborating Centre for Arts and Health, is keen to strengthen the evidence base for arts and health, as well as practitioners’ confidence in how best to use it.
Her interview, available to view now on WAHWN’s YouTube channel, also touches on workforce sustainability and inclusion, as well as her ambitions to ensure Wales’ work in arts, health and wellbeing gains greater recognition beyond its borders.
Being able to shout more about what is happening in Wales’ arts and health sector, she says, is vital to help ensure politicians and health leaders understand and take notice of its impact.