From 8–12 December, WHO/Europe will be participating in Healing Arts Singapore (HASG), the first country-level healing arts activation in Asia, marking an important step in a global movement to integrate the arts into public health. The programme draws inspiration from the policy impact demonstrated by its counterpart, Healing Arts Scotland, co-organized with WHO/Europe’s support, which directly led to the Scottish Government integrating arts-in-health approaches into its efforts to reduce health inequality.
HASG is co-led by Singapore’s leading academic and arts institutions – the National University of Singapore and the University of the Arts Singapore – and the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, and has been developed in close collaboration with all 3 levels of WHO – global, regional and country.
The initiative aims to embed the arts within systems of care, advancing evidence-based and scalable arts and health interventions to improve well-being across Singapore and the wider Western Pacific Region.
Programme highlights
The 5-day programme offers a multidisciplinary platform designed to connect research, practice, community and policy. Focusing on youth mental health, the programme includes a research symposium, during which WHO/Europe will present preliminary findings from an upcoming policy brief on the impact of the arts on youth mental health. The programme also features a day of public and community events, which will showcase Mama Melodies, a Singaporean implementation of WHO/Europe’s Music and Motherhood project.