About Arts on Prescription
The BC Alliance for Arts + Culture is undertaking a multi-year community engaged research project in collaboration with partners across the province. The project explores the benefits of prescribing arts and culture experiences to enhance people’s health and wellness. This idea is also known as “social prescribing”.
Social Prescribing is “a global movement of people bringing community capacity and healthcare services closer together by directly addressing the social determinants of health, from loneliness and social isolation to racism and ageism to income and housing and much more” (CISP, 2022).
This three-year, phased research project takes place from 2022 to 2025 and is built in collaboration with artists and cultural organizations working across BC. The study focuses on how to facilitate the work of BC cultural organizations that aim to support their community’s wellbeing.
The study looks into ways that culture influences social factors that impact health. Arts and culture organizations across BC are already working to support their community’s wellbeing, and this collaborative study aims to help stabilize and amplify their work through advocacy, skill-sharing and networking across sectors. Drawing upon existing social prescribing research and initiatives within and beyond BC, the study will use social prescribing as a prompt to investigate accessible cultural practices in BC and how they might be shared.
Current partners include Collingwood Neighbourhood House, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Two Rivers Gallery.
Research partners include the Community Engaged Research Initiative (CERi) at Simon Fraser University and Dr. Susan Cox from the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia.
The full name of the project is “Co-Creating Arts on Prescription – a Needs Assessment”, and we welcome questions at info@allianceforarts.com.
Social Prescribing Resources
University College London's course on cultural and wellbeing
UCL’s course on culture and wellbeing introduces how to develop, deliver, and evaluate health and wellbeing work within cultural organizations. This is a free, online course that you can start at any time and do at your own pace. There is no homework, no graded assignments, and no certificate issued.
World Health Organization: Toolkit for Social Prescribing
WHO’s Toolkit for Social Prescribing introduces organizations to the idea of social prescribing, and how it might be implemented at a community level. The toolkit includes recommendations and sample materials that can be tailored to local contexts.
The National Centre for Creative Health and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing 2023 report lists almost 500 references that discuss the relationship of creativity and heath. The report explores how arts organizations can support health in perinatal care, at school and work, in older age, and through end of life care.
What is Social Prescribing (Video)
This video describes how social prescribing works in England, where social prescribing is funded by the National Health Services. Although social prescribing is still in its infancy in British Columbia, the concepts shown in the video are relevant to our context as well.
Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing
The Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing (CISP) is a new national hub to link people and share practices that connect people to community-based supports and services that can help improve their health and wellbeing.
In British Columbia, the United Way has taken the lead in testing how Social Prescribing might work in our province. Here is a story about social prescribing and music in BC. Our project, Co-Creating Arts on Prescription, asks how can our cultural sector support social prescribing in the province?
What is the evidence of arts improving health?
Fancourt and Finn’s report references over 3000 studies that discuss how the arts can play a role in improving health and wellbeing. The report was prepared for the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe in 2019.
Cox, Susan, Darquise Lafrenière, Pamela Brett-MacLean, Kate Collie, Nancy Cooley, Janey Dunbrack and Gerri Frager. “Tipping the iceberg? The State of Arts and Health in Canada”. Arts & Health. Taylor & Francis Group, 2.2. 2010.
This article provides an overview of the arts and health in Canada and considers work that spans health policy, healthcare practice, individual and community health promotion, health professional education and arts-based health research. This article is from 2010, and provides insight into the foundations of this field.
Early reviews of Social Prescribing in the UK
This report sets out the findings of research conducted by National Voices for NHS England to explore the perspectives and experiences of the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector in relation to the NHS rollout of social prescribing. The report includes pros and cons identified in the English social prescribing system collected through 300 interviews with people working to support social prescribing. Topics include measurement, funding and inequality.
This report focuses on practical steps for those who are thinking of implementing or expanding a social prescribing scheme, and includes recommendations based on what has already been learned in England. Recommendations are provided on how the public, voluntary and health sectors can collaborate to build healthy relationships.
The BC Alliance for Arts and Culture would like to acknowledge generous support from the Strategic Initiatives Component of the Canada Cultural Investment Fund at the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Systems Change Momentum program at Vancouver Foundation, the Metro Vancouver's Regional Cultural Project Grants program, and the Canada Council for the Arts Strategic Funds and Initatives.
