I had a dream. Not to be trite but I did.
It was a dream about how we stop treating arts and culture as peripheral, and instead recognise them as central to how we build a healthier, fairer society.
Sunita Pandya Malik
I had a dream the other night that I was in front of Government Ministers, drawing a bicycle wheel which had arts and culture at the heart of the spoke. In this wheel, arts and culture were the hub, the central force, with the spokes representing health, education, the economy and our workforce. The wheel itself symbolised a functioning society. When the hub is strong, everything else can move forward together.
I was passionately explaining how arts and culture can be, and are, answers to many of our societal needs, from unmet health needs, to our local, national and global economy, to our children’s education, and to ensuring the longevity and viability of our workforces.
I woke up from the dream and took comfort that it wasn’t far off from a recent roundtable held by the Chair of the Creative Health APPG, Dr Simon Opher MP, where several ministers commented on this and saw the necessity of arts and culture in our lives. So thankfully my dream is based on truth…
I’ve worked in arts and culture for over 20 years and the most progressive and innovative opportunity the sector has faced is around health. Whilst the umbrella term we use is creative health, I’m talking more specifically around social prescribing.
We know that around 1 in 5 GP appointments are not purely biomedical. For example, they may be about health issues related to isolation, debt, housing or relationships breaking down. That’s where social prescribing comes in, to meet that unmet health need through a social prescription.
There is now clear evidence that social prescribing can improve wellbeing and reduce pressure on primary care by connecting people to community-based support.
In this case we’re talking about a creative, arts or heritage-based intervention (it could also be a physical intervention, or one based in our local green spaces, or debt advice), and how that intervention improves that individual’s physical and mental health. I see this on a daily basis when I pop my mum’s Bluetooth speakers on her, sync them up to my ABBA playlist and see her sing and fist bump her way through the classics as her dementia melts away for the duration of the album.
I’ve worked closely with NASP for the last 5 years during which we have seen a massive step forward in arts and social prescribing, with more cultural organisations recognising their work in this area or wanting to pivot existing programmes into this space. There are over 3000 individual studies that support creativity in matters of health and wellbeing, as shown in the World Health Organisation Review and this is why NASP’s partnership with the Royal Albert Hall (RAH) is so exciting.
As a globally recognised and acclaimed venue and brand, the RAH’s roots were to advance the achievements of the arts and sciences, so focusing on social prescribing through their creative programme seems only right and bang on their founding mission.
Having completed initial scoping work with the London Arts and Health Forum, a crucial organisation in our capital’s creative health landscape, the RAH is now partnering with NASP on their next phase of work.
This scoping phase helped to identify local health inequalities, existing community assets, and opportunities for cultural provision to complement clinical pathways. It also reinforced the importance of collaboration between health systems, artists and community organisations to ensure programmes are inclusive, accessible and responsive to local need.
This phase is a natural step in the development of their social prescribing programme. It builds on NASP’s convening of clinician experts such as frontline Link Workers and social prescribers through our Link Worker Advisory Group, to connecting with respective ICBs via our Integrated Care Board Community of Practice. The next phase will focus on deepening these partnerships, supporting new collaborations between the RAH, local health systems, artists and community organisations, and developing models that can be sustained and potentially replicated.
Uniquely located across three London boroughs (Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea, and the City of Westminster), the RAH working alongside NASP will start to consider which “lens” to use in their work, for example analysing hyper-local social and health inequalities data and resulting needs, or potential demographic and/or condition-based approaches. Whatever the deciding “lens” is, ensuring we are embedding evaluation and impact throughout is key to delivering the evidence for continued advocacy, funding and longer-term system change.
Working with such cultural organisations and venues, we are actively addressing the intersection where social, economic and health inequalities meet, widening access to personalised health care through creativity for all. Such an approach also aligns with the Government’s neighbourhood health strategy.
With Social Prescribing Day landing on 26th March 2026, this feels like a key moment to further advocate for our national creative health ambitions. I look forward to our continued work with the RAH as well as other cultural and heritage organisations.
If arts, culture and creativity are to be fully recognised as part of our health infrastructure, continued collaboration across culture, health and policy is essential.
Acronyms: DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport), DHSC (Department of Health and Social Care), DfE (Department for Education) and DWP (Department for Work and Pensions); the Creative Health APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Group); NASP (National Academy for Social Prescribing); the WHO (World Health Organization); ICBs (Integrated Care Boards); and the RAH (Royal Albert Hall) are all referenced in this piece.
