CultureForHealth Report: Culture’s contribution to health and well-being

The CultureForHealth Report is a scoping review of existing evidence on the positive effect of arts and cultural activities on health and wellbeing, with policy recommendations for Europe.

CultureForHealth is a project co-funded by the European Commission that aims to bring health, cultural and social policies closer together in the EU, at regional and local levels. The scoping review responds to the specific criteria set out in the guidelines of the Preparatory Action – Bottom-Up Policy Development for Culture & Well-being in the EU, launched by the European Union in 2020.

This report aims to provide a clear indication of the volume of existing literature, the key concepts, focus points and the types of studies that exist, as well as identifying knowledge gaps in the literature.

The findings of this scoping review and its recommendations throw light on the pathways through which culture and the arts can support individuals and communities in adequately addressing global challenges such as the mental health crisis exacerbated by the pandemic, an ageing population, growing inequalities, forceful displacement of people due to war and political conflict, and dynamic changes to work and the economy.