Cultural engagement for wellbeing

This project aims to deepen understanding of the role of cultural engagement, as delivered by mainstream cultural organisations, in contributing to health outcomes and, in particular, to subjective wellbeing. 

Evidence from outside the UK shows the positive health outcomes of engaging in mainstream cultural activities. In the UK, evidence suggests that the wealthiest and least ethnically diverse 8% of the population are the most culturally active. This raises the possibility that imbalance in the take-up of cultural activities across socioeconomic groups may contribute to current levels of health inequality in the UK. 

The project will undertake a critical appraisal of the literature on the relationship between mainstream creative cultural engagement and subjective wellbeing, with the aim of developing a measure for capturing data on cultural engagement and wellbeing.