Commission and Parliament discuss culture as a driver for health and well-being
Seminar and publication highlight the important role culture plays in improving health and well-being.
On 16 November 2022 Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth organises a joint seminar on the role that culture plays in health and well-being together with Sabine Verheyen, chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education, at the European Parliament.
The seminar will gather speakers from all over Europe and from very different backgrounds: cultural actors, medical practitioners, architects, representatives of municipalities, among others.
Get inspired! Culture: a driver for health and well-being in the EU
Ahead of this event, the European Commission published a brochure with good practice examples of EU funded projects linking culture, health and well-being.
Background
The European Union has funded projects that link culture, health and well-being in the past through its funding programmes. However, following the COVID-19 pandemic and its huge impact on our daily lives, it has become clear that these topics needed to be addressed at a larger scale and in a more strategic way.
For this reason, the European Parliament decided to fund in 2021 the preparatory action Bottom-Up Policy Development for Culture & Well-being in the EU with the support of the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC).
The project CultureForHealth was selected to implement the action. This aims to inspire a true policy change at all levels, bringing together the health, culture, education and social policies.
The year before, DG EAC organised an online workshop for EU Member States on culture and active ageing as well as on the topic of culture, health and well-being.
Voices of Culture, the structured dialogue between representatives of the EU’s cultural sector and the European Commission, will publish a report in 2023 on the role of the cultural and creative sectors in improving the mental health of young people.