Impacts of culture and the arts on health and well-being (HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-09)

Projects should contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

• Policy makers at European, national, regional and local level from the health, culture, social care, relief/ humanitarian, youth and education sectors are aware of the impacts of arts and culture on health, well-being and social cohesion and are equipped with policy recommendations and with practical guides on to implement cross-sectorial policies and programmes in this field;
• Stakeholders from the health, culture, social care, relief/ humanitarian, youth and education sectors are aware impacts of arts and culture on health, well-being and social cohesion and are equipped with tools to implement cross-sectorial projects in this field;
• Research gaps in this field are documented and explained, and further the R&I implementation science (including in SSH disciplines) by presenting new scalable and replicable best practices;
• Policy-makers working in international relations/ cooperation are provided with recommendations for promoting EU priorities, culture and fundamental values abroad through the angle of cooperation in the areas of culture, health and well-being.

An Open Method of Coordination expert group is working on culture and health in 2024, building on the preparatory action “Bottom-up Policy Development for Culture & Well-being in the EU^[1]” (2022-23)

There has been a major increase of research into the effects of culture and the arts on health and well-being^[2], alongside developments in practice and policy activities in different EU countries. A recent example is the covid-19 pandemic, which challenged individual and collective wellbeing in an unprecedented manner. Its consequences – particularly in terms of mental health – have been felt long after the conclusion of the crisis in medical and public health terms. The covid-19 pandemic has showed that culture may play a profound and fundamental role in our lives. Moreover, the war of aggression against Ukraine has recalled the importance of culture and arts for the mental health of forcibly displaced people.

The Commission Communication “A comprehensive approach to mental health” recognized the contribution of culture to mental health and well-being of individuals and society, for example through culture-based social prescribing and the fight against stigma. The EU Work Plan for Culture 2023-2026 recognises that “cultural activities have a positive impact on people of all ages and backgrounds, enhance people’s quality of life and increase the health and overall well-being of individuals and communities. There is also a significant economic impact.”

The objective of this topic is to reinforce and mainstream the foster cross-sectorial cooperation among cultural, health, social, youth, education and humanitarian/ relief sectors as well as researchers and academia of Member State and Associated countries. The proposals should include cultural and creative sectors at large and consider both the active and the receptive nature of cultural participation; a special attention should be given to analyse situations in which art and culture are disruptive for mental health or are polarizing, thus having an adverse impact.

They should:

1. Create a dedicated platform to enable policy discussions and exchange of knowledge on culture and well-being, as well as further increasing the connection between arts, culture, health, well-being and inclusion of all individuals into the society, particularly among the health and social care sectors.
2. Provide policy guidelines for implementation and evaluate mixed methods, arts and culture- based interventions that address one or more of the following areas (at least one intervention per area):
   • health promotion;
   • mental health and well-being (with a focus on children and young people, but also including other population segments, such as working people suffering from burn-out);
   • the ageing population;
   • health and well-being of forcibly displaced people; and
   • links between ill-health and patterns of inequality.
3. Create an evidence gap map of arts and health research and innovation within health promotion, illness prevention, trauma recovery, disease management, and/or disease treatment.

The proposals should collect new practices and policies, evaluate various types of art and culture interventions, in order to better understand their clinical effectiveness and their cost effectiveness. The proposals should develop convincing narratives from the point of view of arts and health economics, health policies and more widely, well-being economics. Well-being is considered here both from an individual and from a societal and community perspective, therefore social cohesion and inclusion should be considered a priority. Moreover, the proposals should allow to map existing research and innovation gaps, identify potential existing barriers and propose a mixed model for cooperation that will take into account participation at the local, national and regional level and the coordination of different sectors and stakeholders.

The proposals should include arts and culture organisations with experience in the area of cross-sectorial collaboration with the other sectors mentioned above.

Where applicable, proposals should leverage the data and services available through European Research Infrastructures federated under the European Open Science Cloud, as well as data from relevant Data Spaces. Particular efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of this topic is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable).