How Creative Health Began

Who Are Creative Health CIC?

Creative Health CIC set up during the early 2000s as Black Country arts officers agreed a shared priority - health and wellbeing.

Led by Kate Gant, who had previously been Head of Arts at Walsall Council, local authorities in the region united behind the company as a commissioning vehicle to bring arts and health money to the urban conurbation and improve lives through creative practice – with local people as both creators and recipients of meaningful, innovative arts and health programmes.

Artistic quality and reflective practice were the company hallmark, engaging commissioners, artists and participants in the evaluative process from beginning to end of each work programme. Creative Health CIC was never about simply placing an artist in a venue to deliver an activity.

Projects involved thousands of children and adults over the years, from pregnant women in hostels to elderly residents of care homes. All ages and abilities were engaged, some in life-enhancing participatory arts and others in creating life-changing Public Health messages.

Creative Health CIC influenced national development of quality arts and health practice. Kate was also a Director of the National Alliance for Arts and Health which became the Culture Health and Wellbeing Alliance

This legacy website is a snapshot of just some of those projects and an indication of the difference they made. 

This legacy website is a snapshot of just some of those projects and an indication of the difference they made.