Twenty-first century practices of health and wellbeing are increasingly turning towards the arts as powerful agents in a busy world. Key publications such as the WHO European Region report ‘What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review’ (2019) and an Arts Council England report ‘The Role of the Arts during the COVID-19 Pandemic’ (2021) have explored the many different ways in which the arts impact health as individuals and communities. Yet the relationship between health and the arts has a long history.
The conference Health, Wellbeing and the Arts in the Nineteenth Century explores a wide range of facets of the relationship between health, wellbeing and the arts during the ‘long’ nineteenth century (c.1789-1914), from an international, interdisciplinary perspective.
Full details, including links to the schedule, abstracts and booking, can be found here: https://musichealthandhappiness.wordpress.com/hwa19c-conference/
Image: Men and boys at a table drinking as a musician plays the lute. Engraving by A. Reindel, early 19th century, after A. Desenne after B. Manfredi, c. 1600. Wellcome Collection. Source: Wellcome Collection.