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Art and design work illustrating health and wellbeing through creative practice
Centre for Arts and Wellbeing
  • Centre for Arts and Wellbeing
  • What we do
  • Join us for study, work or visit
  • Who we are

Welcome to the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing

The Centre for Arts and Wellbeing develops research and enterprise initiatives that directly benefit the wellbeing of individuals, communities, society, the economy and the environment.

We collaborate and innovate in a wide range of sectors where creative and practice based methodologies can support healthy people and places. 

Our research makes an important contribution to a wide range of areas including creative health and social prescription, sustainable design and architecture, place-making and ecology. 

We work in partnership with NGO’s, charities and governing bodies as well as industry, resulting in the co-creation of diverse, tangible outputs that enact positive change in the world.

PhD study in arts and wellbeing? Find out more.

Contact the centre for information on our events and community activities and how you can join in:

CentreforArtsandWellbeing@brighton.ac.uk

Artist Jane Fox's hands visible in silhouette and shadow through a crinkled white cloth making marks on the wind-blown material

What we do

Exhibition wall nineteen small framed images randomly arranged with drawn lines between them. Three gallery visitors examining.

Join us for study, work or visit

Arts practitioner Sarah Gladden holds up a paper for drawing project with elderly, vision-impaired Peter Cutts as part of an inclusive arts project.

Who we are

Discover our latest research activity
Visit our blog site for work-in-progress, events and opportunities

Discover our research in detail
Explore our centre through the university's database of research and knowledge exchange.

Head and shoulders black and white portrait of design researcher Nick Gant

Head and shoulders portrait of Helen Johnson, Director of the research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing

Co-Directors of the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing, Dr Nick Gant and Dr Helen Johnson.

A welcome to the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing from the co-directors, Dr Nick Gant and Dr Helen Johnson

The Centre for Arts and Wellbeing at the University of Brighton proudly supports research and enterprise initiatives that directly benefit the wellbeing of diverse individuals and communities. The university has a long history in innovative art and design practices, medicine and healthcare, and has pioneered community engagement, partnership and co-production practice. The Centre for Arts and Wellbeing brings these strengths together, fostering novel, vital, creative and collaborative modes and methods through which a range of health and wellbeing issues are investigated and brought to public benefit.

Our work extends across the broadest definition of arts and health practice, discovering and developing new strengths through the co-location of creative minds and multidisciplinary interests. In doing so, we make a vital contribution to contemporary cultural life for communities well beyond the university, while developing the knowledge base around how and why the arts, health and wellbeing can and must interweave.

Our membership extends across all schools and all levels in the university, including PhD students and early career researchers. We also work closely with a range of external partners and associate members, including representatives of local government, creative practitioners and community organisations. This network is continuously growing, and we are always keen to hear from potential new partners who connect with our aim of understanding and developing the relationship between the arts and our shared wellbeing.

Dr Nick Gant

Dr Helen Johnson

 

 

News features on the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing

The Centre for Arts and Wellbeing on the University of Brighton press news stream

Social worker turned university student aims to revolutionise sex education for people with learning disabilities

Woman reaching out to touch a blue body mat.

A Brighton student and former social worker has created a sex education toolkit to help people with learning disabilities understand relationships and consent.

Pioneering new project explores inclusive open water swimming with visually impaired community

Aerial view of Brighton seafront with Victorian buildings along Marine Drive and Madeira Drive with the Volks Electric Railway in the foreground

A groundbreaking project is supporting visually impaired people across Sussex to enjoy the mental and physical benefits of open water swimming.

Brighton student reimagines iconic Western art to explore race and identity

The same young Black woman (wearing different outfits) stands around a banquet table, in the style of the famous painting: The Last Supper.

A final-year photography student is turning a critical lens on art history, using playful imagery to question whose stories have been told, and whose have not.

Brighton’s Wild House offers radical blueprint for sustainable social housing and policy reform

Augmented reality binoculars

A new sustainable social housing showcase designed to inspire policy makers to rethink how homes can better connect people with nature is now open at Brighton.

University of Brighton students launch creative project to support people affected by cancer

Shallow focus of a typical NHS hospital waiting room sign seen in a British hospital. - stock photo (Nickbeer)

University of Brighton students are leading community workshops across Sussex offering people affected by cancer a meaningful way to share their experiences.

Displaying 1 to 5 of 15 Next Previous |

 

 

Our researchers write for

Logo for news service The Conversation

  • Superman’s not the first hero to be portrayed as bisexual, but he’ll bring hope to LGBTQ+ fans Alex Fitch
  • Are travel philanthropists doing more harm than good? Marina Novelli

News and events from our blog site

Launching Our New Strand: Art, Illness, and Healthcare

Centre for Arts and Wellbeing: Arts-Based Research in Healthcare On the 8th of May, 11 faculty and PhD students from BSMS participated in an event at The Waste House at the School of Art and Media.

EVENT | Trip to Knepp – 24th June 2025, 10:00 – 15:00

Centre for Arts and Well-Being: Visit to Knepp   Date: 24 June 2025 Time: 10am- 3pm Location: Knepp wildland (TBC)   Sign-up required, see information at the bottom of this post.

EVENT | Commoning Sound – Thursday 19th June 2025, 14:00 – 18:00

Commoning Sound: AmbiMuse in Brighton   Date: Thursday 19th June 2025 Time: 14:00 – 18:00 Location: The Waste House   You are invited to an afternoon of sharing and discussing creative wellbeing approaches to sustainable place-making.

EVENT | The Grand (Narratives) Day Out – PGR Events on Friday 23rd May and Friday 6th June

Calling all Centre for Arts and Wellbeing PGRs!

Read more from our blog site

 

 

 

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