New Course Provides Knowledge and Tools on Art and Culture as Health Promotion
The National Institute of Public Health now offers a course that equips professionals to use art and culture to promote health and well-being.
What difference can literature, dance, theater, and art make to people's health and well-being? How can art and culture be used as a resource in prevention and health promotion? And how do you plan, implement, and evaluate health-promoting art and culture initiatives?
These are some of the questions answered in the National Institute of Public Health's new continuing education course "Art and Culture as Health and Well-being."
The course starts in January 2025 and is aimed at anyone seeking knowledge, inspiration, and practical tools to work with art and culture as health promotion, for example, within the social, health, and cultural sectors.
According to course coordinator and Ph.D. student Mette Marie Kristensen, the aim of the course is to provide participants with a knowledge base in working with health-promoting art and culture initiatives:
"There is a growing body of international research showing that art and culture have positive effects on health and well-being, and here in Denmark, there is increasing interest in the area. We also see more and more initiatives that draw on art and culture as health promotion, and we want to strengthen this work with research-based knowledge. Therefore, the goal of the course is to provide participants with methods and inspiration on how to create good frameworks for working with these types of initiatives."
Gains Knowledge and Methods
In the course, participants will learn how different art and culture genres can affect people's health and well-being, and how they can be used in prevention and health promotion work.
Additionally, participants will gain insight into concrete methods of using art and culture as health promotion and tools for planning, implementing, and evaluating initiatives.
The instructors come from universities across the country as well as from the art and culture world, and they all have expertise in their respective areas at the intersection of art, culture, and health.
Participates in Workshops
The course consists of eight teaching days spread over four months and alternates between lectures, group work, museum visits, and workshops in shared reading, creative writing, dance, and music therapy.
"We hope to inspire participants and give them the opportunity to personally experience how different art and culture initiatives affect them. We also hope that the course can help strengthen networking within this area," says Mette Marie Kristensen.
The course is offered in collaboration with the health sector in Region Skåne and Lund University.
There is an online information meeting on September 19th from 3:00 to 3:45 PM, where you can learn more about the course.
For further questions, contact: Course coordinator and Ph.D. student Mette Marie Kristensen, phone: +45 6550 7805, email: memk@sdu.dk, and Professor Anna Paldam Folker, phone: +45 6550 7860, email: anpf@sdu.dk, National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark.