Creative Health in Action: celebrating the role of the arts on health and wellbeing

All spaces across the venue were buzzing, with a packed schedule of live performances, interactive workshops, exhibitions, films and talks. Highlights included an immersive performance from Gerry’s Attic Dance Company, and a lively crowd singalong with the Bath Aphasia Choir! The afternoon culminated in an uplifting performance from Pulse: Bristol Beacon’s very own music and movement club for adults referred through social prescribing, based at Beacon Music Centre.

The day truly captured the essence of the creative health community. It was inspiring to see so many exciting discussions and new connections forming within the sector. 

We spoke to Julie Matthews, co-director and founder of CreativeShift to hear more about her hopes for the future of creative health in the region.

”We’ve co-produced this event along with University of Bristol, Culture West, and Bristol Beacon. The event for us is about celebrating creative health, but it’s also very much more a working event that’s about building on what already exists, and connecting it more.  

What’s really exciting being at our stall is to see people approach us and want to leave their contact details. People from the National Trust, the NHS, and other organisations have shown interest, which is really brilliant!

I’m hoping that what will come from this event today is a much more interconnected network across Bristol and beyond, consisting of people and organisations across health, community, and culture, all working together in a more holistic way. The creative health ecosystem provides an amazing resource for supporting people’s health and wellbeing. We can do that so much better if we work together on it’’.