1m pound grant to investigate how cultural pursuits affect health and wellbeing

A joint venture between the Royal College of Music and Imperial was awarded £1 million for a new research project on the arts and health. The project at the Centre for Performance Science , a cross-institutional partnership between the Royal College of Music (RCM) and Imperial College London, will explore the impact of the arts and culture on health and wellbeing, from individual, social, and economic perspectives. One area the team will study is the link between cultural pursuits - like joining a choir, learning an instrument, or attending art classes - and the health and wellbeing of society. The work will be funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Smaller arts intervention studies have previously found links between cultural participation, good health, and lower mortality. However, to date there have been few larger-scale studies involving the arts across the UK. This study will gather new empirical and qualitative data from people over three years.