About the work
Arts Council of Wales had supported arts and health coordinator roles within health boards for six years. As the current funding cycle came to an end, it wanted to explore how future investment could help the work develop, drawing on the experience of the people leading it.
The workshop brought together arts and health leaders, ACW and Wales Arts Health and Wellbeing Network colleagues at Aberystwyth Arts Centre. It created space to share learning, consider a ten-year ambition and explore priorities for the next two to three years.
The approach
Working with Tabitha Milne, we designed and facilitated a series of conversations linking future ambition with present-day experience. Participants explored two contrasting scenarios for healthcare in 2036 and considered what would make the arts vital in each.
We used a “luggage and baggage” exercise to reflect on what participants wanted to carry forward and what they hoped to leave behind. They then described the future roles they wanted to build and mapped the relationships and support needed to move towards them. Small-group work and shared discussion gave space to both common ground and different perspectives.
What the work produced
The workshop surfaced shared concerns around short-term funding, differing roles across health boards and the effort required to keep demonstrating their value. It also highlighted the strengths participants could build on: established relationships, practical experience and their role as bridges between arts, health and communities.
We brought these insights together in a report for ACW, with reflections on shared national purpose, sustained support, evidence and evaluation, and the place of arts and health within health-board structures. The report offered a basis for further discussion about the next phase of investment, including opportunities for leaders to work together on shared priorities.
Testimonial
“Rob and Tabby were great to work with – creative, insightful and reliable. They managed to guide us as a group through some complex questions with real clarity and warmth, and the learnings from the day directly informed our thinking about the next phase of this programme.”
Rosie Dow – Head of Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Arts Council of Wales