Greater Manchester has committed to becoming a creative health city region. This means that GM will be the first city region in the world to realise the power of creativity, culture and heritage in addressing inequities and improving the health and wellbeing of its residents.
Compelling evidence exists that engaging with creativity, culture and heritage helps us to lead longer, healthier, happier lives. Recognition of a relationship between the arts, culture, heritage, health and wellbeing is increasingly referred to as ‘creative health’.
Consideration of creative health includes both participation in creative activity and engagement with culture and heritage, formally and informally. It is not limited to the visual and performing arts, dance, film, literature, music and singing but also embraces, for example, crafts, gardening, natural, built and intangible heritage and the culinary and digital arts. Engagement might take place at a concert hall, gallery, library, museum, theatre or park, or it might happen in a health or social care setting, local community space, or at home. Creative health embraces activities that can enhance health and wellbeing in both direct and indirect ways.
The strategy was commissioned by Greater Manchester Integrated Care (NHS GM). It builds on A Social Glue, which was commissioned from Dr Clive Parkinson as part of the three-year Great Place programme at Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). That research-informed polemic examined GM’s long history of embracing creative health approaches and made a compelling case for GM to become the world’s first creative health city region.
Read the full report: gm-creative-health-strategy-low-res.pdf (gmintegratedcare.org.uk)