For many years, participatory arts projects have been observed to make a significant contribution to the health and well-being of local communities - only for beneficial outcomes to disappear without trace when short-term project funding runs out. At the same time, there has been mounting evidence, commissioned by both arts and health bodies, to show that creativity and the arts do indeed make a significant difference to people's health and well-being and to how they feel about, and interact with, their neighbours. What can be done to build on and develop the evidence base? Particularly in times of austerity, there is also a need to draw on that evidence to develop principles and recommendations for bodies wishing to commission, and artists wishing to lead, participatory or public art initiatives that are most likely to result in sustained benefit to local people and communities. This paper suggests ways in which arts and public health professionals can learn from each other and go on to work more effectively together and with local communities. The paper is based on a qualitative evaluation study of a wide-ranging and innovative initiative, Be Creative Be Well (part of a wider programme, Well London) that nurtured around 100 different small participatory arts projects across 20 of London's most disadvantaged areas. Through analysis of case studies and desk research, the paper presents a summary of what exactly the artist and the creative process bring to a community context and how that can best be supported by policy makers and funders.
In general, the study found that there was a lack of understanding of each other's role between palliative care professionals and ID staff, with each unsure of what the other service is providing and how it is run. Recommendations include securing a development worker for ID and end-of-life care; conducting training for ID care staff; establishing how ID services are organized within the local area; linking to national training programs; ensuring that senior management is proactively involved; and ensuring that the goals of any initiative are clear and measurable.
Draws attention to the experiences of the author in trying to introduce new marketing ideas. Describes the difficulties of independent business. Presents a description of the progress of the author's company from theory into practice and the problems encountered therein.
This article reviews the King’s Fund’s efforts to establish shared priorities for learning with grant applicants, to improve Londoners’ health through community-level projects. The Fund used partnership working for its Partners for Health grant programme, an innovative framework contrasting with the typical, more narrow and limited, model for funding relationships. The related focus on learning required robust evaluation plans from grant applicants, based on the ‘realistic evaluation’ approach. This shift to grant-aid relationships based on partnership and learning produced varied reactions, and raises far-reaching issues about the challenges presented by partnership that feed into broader debates about the place of partnership in public services.
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