Press release - 28 March 2002

Minister promises greater support for arts and health practitioners.

In response to a meeting between arts-in-health practitioners and Arts Minister Baroness Blackstone organised by the National Campaign for the Arts (NCA) the Minister has agreed to work more closely with Health Department colleagues and funding bodies to promote greater consistency of support across the country.

The NCA were delighted to receive assurances that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) would instruct the Arts Council of England (ACE) to ensure that consistent policies for the arts in health were drawn up and adopted by each of its regional offices, as part of ACE's current restructuring process. It was also encouraged to hear that money was being sought by DCMS for arts and sports activity addressing problems of health inequalities in areas suffering from multiple forms of deprivation (both economic and social).

Delegates welcomed the Department's willingness to collaborate to ensure that research was undertaken to provide the empirical support needed to promote the arts in health to healthcare professionals and the health sector as a whole.

Victoria Todd, Director of the NCA, said: "There has been an exponential growth in the practice of the arts in health, but a great deal remains to be done if the arts are to become universally accepted for the benefits which they can achieve in improving the hospital environment, reducing recovery times and raising public awareness of health issues."

This is the tenth NCA delegation in which NCA has facilitated direct meetings between arts practitioners and the Arts Minister. Past delegations have focused on issues ranging from funding, the importance of arts in education and disability rights issues, through to the role of the arts in combating social exclusion.

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