Commissioned by LAHWN and delivered in partnership with Voluntary Action Leeds and Forum Central, the report captures years of learning, innovation, and collaboration across the city’s creative health sector. It offers a comprehensive snapshot of activity, from neighbourhood arts projects to large-scale partnerships between cultural and health institutions, showcasing the sector’s diversity, reach, and evolution.

This year’s Creativity and Wellbeing Week, led by the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance  (CHWA) and London Arts and Health, has invited curiosity and listening under the theme New Horizons. It was an ideal moment to reflect on Leeds’ creative health journey and its national significance.

Leeds at the forefront
Leeds is not only embracing creative health but actively shaping its future. By connecting practitioners, health professionals, commissioners, and communities, the city is helping define what a creative, connected approach to wellbeing looks like.

Highlights from the report include:
A wide-ranging map of creative health organisations and practitioners in Leeds.
Stories from community projects, social prescribing programmes, and arts-in-healthcare settings.
Reflections on the role of collaboration, place-based working, and inclusivity in creative health practice.
Insights into what’s working, what’s emerging, and what’s needed to sustain and grow the sector.
Fran Coard, Creative Development Manager at LAHWN reflects on the research:

“Leeds has an amazing eco-system of creative health activity in Leeds. From grassroots activities through to national arts organisations, creative wellbeing activities on offer in Leeds play a huge role in creating and maintaining health for Leeds residents. But this work is not always recognised and celebrated. We want this report to shine a light on the invaluable and transformative contributions these activities make in our city.

This Creativity and Wellbeing Week the theme is New Horizons in Creative Health. There is growing national and regional policy interest in this work, and our report outlines the fantastic work already taking place in Leeds and sets out our vision and recommendations for how Creative Health can become more integrated into the wider health system and steps we can take support the sustainability of our creative health offer.

Through this we will achieve our vision that Arts and Creativity support Leeds to be a healthy city, where people who are the poorest improve their health the fastest. We truly believe that these approaches have the power to change lives.”

The report here.

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