Action Plan: Strengthen partnerships between the creative and cultural sectors and NHS, health and care sectors.
On behalf of the Cultural Compact, last Autumn Pavilion Dance hosted a series of conversations to bring creative organisations and individual practitioners together to connect and boost culture-led health & wellbeing work across BCP. Discussions were focussed on the particular challenges and opportunities within BCP with the aim of generating concrete connections and ideas for those attending.
The sessions were facilitated by the Director of the National Centre for Creative Health, Alexandra Coulter, who brought a wealth of local and national experience to the discussions. Guest speakers included Jayne Howard (Arts Well CIC), Phil Hallet (CODA), and Julie Northam (Bournemouth’s Health Sciences University).
82 people signed up for one or more of the sessions, enabling ongoing connections and ideas to be hatched in future. Just over half were from the creative sector, with the remaining predominantly coming from the health or social care sector – meaning we succeeded in the aim of bringing creative and health professionals together to connect, share perspectives and sow the seeds of future collaboration.
We asked bookers to rate the extent of their experience in delivering Creative Health work. 45% said it was central to their/their organisations work, 40% said they/their organisation occasionally delivers this work, and the remaining 15% said it was brand new and they were interested in finding out more. This information was used to ensure a balance was achieved in the round table discussions to meet our aim of facilitating peer learning.
The conversations received very positive feedback from attendees, via a post-event survey:
- 88% of respondents felt they had achieved their aims in attending (“Yes, some great connections made – brilliant that there were three sessions so we could start to recognise people & build ideas! Also good to have round table discussions with people from across the board – NHS, funders, cultural organisations, community and voluntary sector & strategists.”)
- Every respondent reported that they had made useful connections or reconnected with arts and/or health sector organisations or individuals that they intend to follow up (“A few new connections were made and old connections picked up. Opportunities for collaboration have been identified too”. “Yes some invaluable connections that have helped me and ultimately help the individuals I will be treating in some way, thank you for the opportunity to do this.”)
Overall, it was a highly successful event. It was useful to clarify the Compact’s role as a broker and catalyst, with the aim that some attendees will be joining us for our quarterly cultural networking meetings – supporting the creative sector as well as serving as a portal for NHS representatives in the future.