Many of us make art for work or fun. Even if you wouldn’t call yourself an artist, you must have sung in the shower, done a silly dance, or written an angsty poem. These creative pursuits don’t only bring joy, solidarity, or catharsis to us and those around us — a growing body of research shows that they can make a difference to our physical and mental health too. This display contains a series of pivotal works from the emerging field of “arts in health” curated by Yaning Wu (a PhD student in public health and primary care at Trinity Hall) with the generous help of recent collaborators. Texts in this display may be of special interest to students of health and healthcare, the creative arts, neuroscience, and psychology, in addition to anyone who is curious about improving their own wellbeing using tools outside of traditional medical spheres.
Please note that though this collection seeks to showcase exceptional examples of arts and health practice from across the globe and from diverse communities, many included books are dominated by stories, case studies, and research from the Global North. More work is needed to improve access to this vital, and vitally human, resource for all individuals who may benefit.
Arts in Health: Designing and researching interventions by Daisy Fancourt
This text, authored by arts in health pioneer Dr Daisy Fancourt (University College London), provides a comprehensive guide to researching and developing interventions within this field. in particular, examples of arts in health research and practice are given for many major areas of healthcare.
Bridging the Creative Arts Therapies and Arts in Health: Towards Inspirational Practice edited by Betts and Huet
This text showcases the wide-ranging ways in which global arts in health programmes have benefitted from collaborations between art therapists and arts in health practitioners.
The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging
This text, focussed on the broader movement of “social prescribing” (a catch-all term for health interventions involving community-based activities that matter to patients), gathers years of interviews from journalist (and Cambridge MPhil graduate) Julia Hotz with individuals who have transformed their lives through these non-medical “prescriptions'.
Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us
This text, though centred on neuroscience, provides interdisciplinary perspectives on the importance of arts engagement for population-level wellbeing.
The Healing Arts: The Arts Project at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital 
This first case study is close to home – it speaks to the history of arts in health programmes at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, which has pioneered the integration of these programmes in patient care for over two decades.
Healing Walls: New York City Health + Hospitals Community Mural Project 2019-2021
This second case study draws from a more recent project from hospitals in all five boroughs of New York City that received funding to extend a policy by the U.S.’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) to paint murals in all NYC hospitals in the 1930s. Please note that this work, kindly donated by collaborators at the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine, is for reference only. Should you be interested in purchasing a copy for your own home or workplace, please be aware that all proceeds from the book will benefit NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine programmes.
Listen to some of the world's foremost arts in health researchers, artists, and exhibition directors speak about progress and future directions in this emerging space.
ATUNBI: The Grit, The Guts, The Glory
This text may be the most personal work in this display – it is the autobiography of Kunle Adewale, a Nigerian artist and social entrepreneur who has worked for decades to bring arts in health to communities in the Global South by training practitioners in best practice and leading third sector organisations to deliver workshops in healthcare spaces. To learn more about Kunle’s work, please visit his personal website and the website of the Arts in Medicine Fellowship.
What is, and isn't, arts in health? Watch this animation from the University of Florida's Center for Arts in Medicine for a colourful introduction.
Comfort Measures Only: New and Selected Poems, 1994-2016 by Rafael Campo
This text approaches arts in health from the perspective of a doctor, rather than a patient though a series of poems by one of the world’s leading physician-poets. Rafael Campo practices at Harvard Medical School and edits the Journal of the American Medical Association’s “Poetry and Medicine” column, a renowned vessel for lyrical work on the body and illness. His early experiences caring for patients at the heart of the AIDS epidemic, whose plights he felt closely reflected in him, a gay son of immigrants, bound him to poetry.
The Hippocrates Prize – The First 10 Years
This text contains 76 prizewinning poems from 10 years of the world’s foremost poetry competition on the subject of medicine. These poems have been submitted by both acclaimed and unknown authors, including healthcare professionals, members of the general public, and younger poets from ages 14-18. Readers who take inspiration from this collection are encouraged to submit their own entry to this annual competition via the Hippocrates Prize website.
Thank you for engaging with this display! We hope you’ve come away with new insights on how two oft-separated disciplines can be intertwined. We also hope you’ve concluded from the texts in this display that artistic endeavours need not be excellent or widely acclaimed to be useful or worthy.
What next? We would encourage you to reflect on the role that the arts play in your life and to consider how they may augment your physical and mental wellbeing and/or the wellbeing of others. Yaning holds diverse interests in this space (entirely separate from her PhD research) and would be keen to hear your thoughts on this display, especially with regards to music and visual arts in healthcare spaces. You can contact her at yw645@cam.ac.uk.