The research and team behind the campaign

Good Arts, Good Mental Health is the translation of award-winning research into an initiative to improve mental wellbeing via arts engagement. The initiative has been developed with more than 3000 community members – people just like you – a research team from seven world leading universities and 31 government, industry and philanthropic partners.

Overall, there is good evidence of an arts-mental wellbeing relationship. Below are free links to arts and health research that may be of interest to you.

• The Art of Being Mentally Healthy – This paper quantifies the arts/mental wellbeing

  relationship. We found that 2hrs/week of arts engagement (e.g. listening to music, reading,

  dancing, singing, painting, attending a concert, performance, art class etc) is associated with

  mental wellbeing for adults in the general population. This paper is also cited in Revive,

  Australia’s National Cultural Policy. See:

  https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-015-2672-7

   

• Arts and Health Glossary – This paper provides a summary of arts-health definitions for use

  in policy, programs, practice and every day life. See:

  https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.949685/full

   

• Arts-Health Promotion Systematic Review - This systematic review was written for the Sax

  Institute and VicHealth. The review provides a summary and evidence rating (strong/weak)

  of arts and health publications. See: https://www.saxinstitute.org.au/wp-

  content/uploads/20.12_Evidence-Check_arts-and-health-promotion.pdf

   

• The Art of Being Healthy – This paper describes the arts-health relationship in terms of

  seven outcomes - mental health, social health, physical health, economic, knowledge, art

  and identity outcomes. See: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/4/4/e004790

   

• The Art of Aging Well – This paper describes the relationship between recreational arts

  engagement, general health and mental wellbeing in cohort of 2,843 Australian older adults. See:

  https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1288760/full

   

• Arts, Public Health and the National Arts and Health Framework - This paper provides a

  summary of arts health concepts. See:

  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1326020023011597?via%3Dihub

   

• Music for Wellness in rehabilitation patients – This paper showcases a low-cost, non-

  pharmacological hospital music programme that successfully supported patient well-being in

  a rehabilitation setting. See:

  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0033350621000664?via%3Dihub