Symposium: Making the Case for Creative Health in Medway

(The image above is of the Erica Stuart Mural by Ricardo Van Zwol, located on Shipwrights Ave, Chatham, commissioned by Arches Local)

This is a joint symposium organised by University of Kent and Medway Creative Health Place Partnership programme

The symposium will bring together researchers, practitioners and local stakeholders to consider how we go about ‘making the case’ for creative health in Medway beyond the current Arts Council Creative Health Place Partnership programme. We will consider:

· cutting edge research from elsewhere that has explored different models of evidence and frameworks for embedding creative health practice in localities

· practices around evaluation and the value of asset-based approaches

· how artists and researchers involved with the Medway programme consider the evidence base we currently have and how we might plan for the sustainability of these practices locally, in terms of evidence but also resourcing and governance

Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

The symposium will include presentations from guest speakers who are experts in creative health followed by a panel discussion. Please see further details of our guest speakers below:

Creative Health Boards: a new model to embed arts and creativity in health services
Professor Chris Dayson, Professor of Voluntary Action, Health and Wellbeing, Sheffield Hallam University. Prof Dayson is a leading international expert on social prescribing, creative health and other asset-based approaches to addressing health inequalities

Mobilising Community Assets: Evidence and Evaluation
Dr Linda Thomson, Senior Research Fellow in Health Disparities, University College London. Linda is a psychologist interested in the role of creativity and co-productive processes in enhancing health and wellbeing, and addressing health inequalities. Linda developed the UCL Creative Wellbeing Measures for assessing psychological wellbeing derived from participation in arts, museums, cultural and nature-based activities. The presentation will be based on Linda's research mobilising community assets to tackle health inequalities programme

Panel: Considering evidence and frameworks for creative health in Medway
Chair: Sharon Manship, Research Associate, University of Kent
Panel members: Laura Bailey, Creative Health Stories; Dr David Stokes, Nucleus Arts; Dr Eleanor Jupp, University of Kent; Bernadette Russell, author and storyteller

During the panel, we will outline approaches to evaluation and evidence gathering in current creative health practice to propose models for sustaining practice in Medway

Paid parking is available near Sun Pier House, and Chatham train station is a 10-15 minute walk.