Culture as a cure – exploring links between arts and health
How can the arts and culture improve our ways of living and ageing?
In October 2020, The Mayor of London’s Culture Team hosted a Roundtable discussion exploring current opportunities between cultural organisations and local authorities, with a focus on Social Prescribing.
The event was attended by cultural organisations, doctors, participants, artists and funders and was chaired by Moira Sinclair (Paul Hamlyn). Joan Nightingall (Meet Me) and Ochuko Onebraliche (Meet Me, Elders Company) presented some of their personal experiences from this year, alongside David Slater who talked about how the Entelechy Arts programme has been reimagined, remotely, during Covid-19.
One of the questions we explored was “How can imagination and creativity be harnessed to address changing needs in a (post) Covid-19 landscape?” We were delighted to be able to continue many of the threads that featured at the Creative Ageing symposium during Age Against the Machine, which was funded by a Mayor’s Cultural Impact Award. We were also joined by Camden, another Cultural Impact Award borough and, in particular, enjoyed hearing more about the work taking place at Free Space Project based in Kentish Town Health Centre.
The Mayor of London Culture team has written a blog post reflecting on what happened.
The event was documented by visual scribe Merlin Evans (Drawn to Medicine).
