NEA was commissioned by East Sussex County Council to organise and present Everyone An Artist? – a symposium investigating connections between culture, society and health & wellbeing. The event took place at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea on 30 October 2015.

Chaired by Baroness Kay Andrews, this one-day symposium brought together over 120 prominent policy-makers, artists, researchers and health professionals to explore the role of conceptual and empirical research in understanding the cultural sector’s impact on people’s health, wellbeing and social connectedness.

The symposium highlighted three research projects NEA has been involved in over the past three years, building on an initial commission from East Sussex County Council’s Cultural Research Project. These were undertaken with De La Warr Pavilion, Turner Contemporary, Folkestone’s Creative Foundation and Project Art Works – presentations on each of these were given by Stewart Drew (DLWP), Dr Trish Vella-Burrows (Sidney De Haan Research Centre) and Kate Adams (Project Art Works). Full details can be found below.

The day also featured powerful testimony and international research findings from:

• Stella Duffy (Fun Palaces)
• Dr Emily Pringle (Tate)
• Dr Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt (AHRC Cultural Value Project)
• Richard Russell (Arts Council England)
• Dr Louise Mansfield (Brunel University and What Works Wellbeing)
• Peter Stark (Voluntary Arts and Rebalancing Our Cultural Capital)
• Alexandra Coulter (All Party Parlimentary Group on Arts Health and Wellbeing)

Edited videos of the day’s proceedings can be viewed via the playlist on the right.

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