Using the arts as a catalyst to support people and communities – helping them to grow and develop, and use the arts as a way to express and engage. They are safe spaces in which making new friends, learning a new skill, getting fit, being creative and having fun are the key ingredients!
‘Variety of form and brilliancy of colour in the object presented to patients are an actual means of recovery.’
Florence Nightingale
We will be working with various organisations to bring Arts in Health and Well-being workshops to the people of Staffordshire and South Cheshire including Cheshire Arts for Health and Staffordshire Network for Mental Health
As a professional artist Craig has been working in community arts in various roles since his teenage years, both voluntary and paid, public and private sector and working as an Arts in Health facilitator for Birmingham Centre for Arts Therapies since 2019, he has delivered lots of fun therapeutic and engaging arts in health and well-being workshops.
His main specialism is visual arts, although he can and has previously also provided an array of community sessions around art, dance movement, drama, play and music too.
Craig’s sessions have a strong element of mindfulness to support mental health and well-being. He’s happy working with both children and adults who have a wide range of needs, such as those arising from emotional, behavioural or mental health issues, and effects of stress and trauma.
Craig is running regular workshops at Clarendon Court Care Home in Nantwich for residents with dementia and is available to run sessions at other homes in the South Cheshire and North Staffordshire areas.
“ The art class is the highlight of my week. I’ve never done art before but Craig is such a good teacher, he’s funny and we always have a good laugh. I didn’t think I could do it but my painting always comes out better than I thought it would”
Care Home Resident
Click here for an example of a project Craig worked on with Forest Oak School, and Solihull Action Through Advocacy
Forest Oak School and Solihull Action Through Advocacy
Arts in Health benefits
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing spent two years investigating the effects of the arts on health and wellbeing and concluded that, ‘The time has come to recognise the powerful contribution the arts can make to our health and wellbeing.’
They published their report in July 2017 entitled Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing in which they present evidence that, ‘shows how arts-based approaches can help people to stay well, recover faster, manage long-term conditions and experience a better quality of life.’
They found that ‘visual and performing arts in healthcare environments help to reduce sickness, anxiety and stress.’
Commenting on the outlook for the future they said, ‘It is predicted that, by 2040, 1.2million older people in the UK will have a dementia diagnosis…engagement with the arts can provide significant help in meeting this enormous challenge…dancing, painting or playing a musical instrument can boost brain function, potentially helping to delay the onset of dementia.’
A review of the existing evidence was published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine which found that there is, ‘…increasing evidence that the display of visual art, especially images of nature, can have positive effects on health outcomes, including shorter length of stay in hospital, increased pain tolerance and decreased anxiety.’
In 2011, the British Medical Association published a paper on ‘The psychological and social needs of patients’ which found that, ‘Creating a therapeutic healthcare environment extends beyond the elimination of boredom. Arts and humanities programmes have been shown to have a positive effect on inpatients.
The measured improvements include:
To learn more about the research and evidence underpinning this important Arts in Health work, visit
All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing Inquiry (2017). Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing