Exploring the role of creativity in health and wellbeing in Essex

This new report from Creative Lives maps the creative health landscape across Essex, examining how arts and cultural activities can contribute to health and wellbeing outcomes in the county.

Commissioned by Essex County Council and conducted by Creative Lives between April 2024 and February 2025, the research provides crucial insights into current provision, challenges, and opportunities within Essex’s creative health sector. The reports begins to explore how the creative and cultural sector can strategically improve health outcomes in Essex.

The report outlines several key recommendations, including:

• Adopting the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance’s Creative Health Quality Framework,
• Developing sustainable funding models,
• And strengthening cross-sector collaboration between cultural and health organisations. 

You can download the report Mapping Creative Health in Essex here.