BC Alliance for Arts + Culture studies the potential benefits of prescribing arts and culture

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Museum of Anthropology among community partners looking into how “social prescribing” aims to improve people’s health and wellness

Ballet BC artists Emanuel Dostine and Sidney Chuckas. Photo by Marcus Eriksson

PEOPLE IN CANADA can get a prescription to spend more time in nature to boost their physical and mental well-being. Could more time immersed in arts and culture be next?

BC Alliance for Arts + Culture is looking at just that. It’s undertaking a multi-year community-engaged research project with partners province-wide that explores the benefits of prescribing arts and culture experiences to enhance people’s health and wellness.

Collaborating with the alliance are the Collingwood Neighbourhood House, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Two Rivers Gallery. Research partners include the Community Engaged Research Initiative (CERi) at Simon Fraser University and Dr. Susan Cox from the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia.

The idea is also known as “social prescribing”, which the Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing describes as a global movement of “people bringing community capacity and health-care services closer together by directly addressing the social determinants of health, from loneliness and social isolation to racism and ageism to income and housing and much more”. The institute is a new national hub that aims to connect people to community-based supports and services that can help improve their health and well-being.

Called Co-Creating Arts on Prescription – A Needs Assessment, the study will focus on how to facilitate the work of B.C. cultural organizations that aim to support their community’s well-being. The phased research project runs until 2025 and will examine ways in which culture influences the social factors that impact health.

“Arts and culture organizations across B.C. are already working to support their community’s well-being, and this collaborative study aims to help stabilize and amplify their work through advocacy, skill-sharing, and networking across sectors,” according to a release. “Drawing upon existing social prescribing research and initiatives within and beyond B.C., the study will use social prescribing as a prompt to investigate accessible cultural practices in B.C. and how they might be shared.”

The alliance is welcoming queries about the project at info@allianceforarts.com.

Updates will be posted on the alliance's website, which also features more information.

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