Reflections from the Wales Arts Health and Wellbeing Network conference 2025
IIt’s never easy to sum up a conference – especially one as inspiring and rich in ideas as the Wales Arts Health and Wellbeing Network (WAHWN Cymru) event at Wrexham University in September.
Over two days, there was so much food for thought and so many powerful insights shared.
I wanted to capture a few of the things that stood out to me and share some links — in case they’re useful for others. This reflection comes from my perspective as a communications practitioner and arts advocate, rather than an arts and health specialist — so hopefully it offers a fresh lens on what’s happening in Wales.
A birds-eye view
My main takeaway was that it really feels as if Wales is committed to systemic change, placing the arts centrally, and deeply, in health policy and practice. There’s a long way to go – but the work is certainly being catalysed by smart thinkers and doers, who talked about what they were doing around:
- systems change and systems leadership (more on the latter coming soon via an international development client I work with and have been learning from). Interesting to hear WAHWN’s work being framed around systems convening – engagement, the art of the possible and cocreation/joint action
- innovating in partnership to enable change in complex times (eg the partnership between WAHWN, Arts Council Wales, the Welsh NHS Confederation, but also many more local and regional level partnerships)
- capturing and using evidence in meaningful ways
- involving people meaningfully in decisions that affect their lives (yes coproduction, cocreation have become buzzwords but the projects we heard from were beyond that)
- moving from projects to universal services
- the cross party arts and health group in the Senedd (aiming to effect policy change) doesn’t get as much attendance as it should – we need to be talking to candidates about how important it is
Some useful phrases I heard:
- Arts allow us to be and feel not just do and think
- The arts sparks, enables and nurtures conversation – something that’s missing in these divided times
- “But what about the NHS” the arts IS about the NHS!
Practical steps leading up to the Senedd elections
Some practical steps for arts and health advocates leading up to Senedd elections from Heledd Fychan MS (Plaid Cymru):
- Make contact with current and potential candidates, 36 new ones, many of existing ones will be leaving
- Invite them to your work. It’s difficult for them to turn down! They want ideas for what to campaign on and want to engage public. They may see as nice to have, show them it’s equal to treatment, transformational
- We have the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act – use it to advocate!
Food for thought and inspiration for your advocacy from Sir Michael Marmot
The video presentation by Sir Michael Marmot* deserves a blog all of its own, so I’d urge anyone interested in arts and health to watch this but here are a few quotes to whet your appetite.
*Sir Michael is a viola player; public health expert, author of the Marmot Review of progress around health inequities; chair, World Health Organisation social determinants of health group and more …
- “If you want to improve the health of the population then you have to do more than invest in the healthcare system”
- “People need someone to love, somewhere to live, somewhere to work and something to hope for” Jacinda Ardern
- We want to do “more than the simple basic, something to hope for, life that’s more than drudgery – the arts are part of that”
- In looking for reform around health inequity we need policymakers to:
- Tell the truth
- Argue from the evidence
- Recognise that what we’re doing is in pursuit of social justice. Trying to improve the health of everybody but particularly of those most disadvantaged
- Progress on health inequalities is bleak –to interrupt that, we need a broader approach to prevention, not just smoking and obesity and secondary prevention after illness but to “create the conditions for people to have lives of dignity … and a flourishing future”.
- The hierarchy of needs isn’t quite right – “we can’t get the basics right and then worry about creativity and an interesting life. We need to do them at the same time.”
Final thoughts – influencing change
I would add that what we also need to do is to advocate for the arts in smart ways. To understand the deep-seated beliefs among policy makers and people with influence, that might be preventing the embedding of arts in policy: arts as health, arts as social good, arts as critical to our lives and our world
We’ve had the knowledge and expertise about how to change hearts, minds and behaviour for decades now. I saw hints that this is being used throughout this conference. But I’m not sure we’re not using it as comprehensively as we could do, outside of fundraising.
I’m still learning about this, and trying to apply it where I can. But we need more comprehensive, widespread training and opportunities in the arts around decision science and framing if we’re to really move the dial (read my blog here, or my two 15-min podcasts here and here – also available on podcast apps – for more on this).
Perhaps this is something the Arts Councils, Audience Agency, Arts Marketing Association or others could consider?
It really feels like Wales is leading the way on systemic change — beginning to integrate the arts deeply into health policy and practice. Overall, alongside lots of food for thought, the event gave me lots of hope and a renewed conviction to support the sector however I can.
Useful links:
VIDEO: The 2 hour debate on the value of the arts in the Senedd in June
VIDEOS: The full set of videos from the Weave conference
MORE ABOUT WAHWN: Wahwn website
Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash