Poetry on Prescription: Healing with the Arts

Should a doctor prescribe poetry-writing, or visiting an art gallery, as an alternative for medication? Medical professionals are doing so in a range of countries. The benefits of creative and community activity for health and wellbeing are increasingly being recognised globally. Could this be a case where Western medicine is catching up with practices First Nations communities have enacted for millenia? How are health and wellbeing impacted by creative art?  

This two-day symposium will bring together artists, health practitioners and end users to learn more about the relationship between creative art and wellbeing, with a special focus on poetry. The broad context for our discussions is the practice and processes of social prescribing: the prescribing of social and/or creative activities for people presenting with mental or physical ill health.

Sessions will range across a discussion of current policy settings, papers on the relationship between poetry and wellbeing, panel-discussions among artists and community workers, along with hands-on poetry writing and creative arts workshops. 

This event is recommended for health and arts practitioners, professional care givers, link workers and anyone interested or working in the dynamic health and arts space.

Programme:

Day One - Friday 22 November, 12:30pm to 7pm at University of Canberra Room 1A21 (Theatrette). (Note: Room 1a21 is accessed from the foyer joining Building 1 and Mizzuna café)

*For Day One, participants can attend in-person or online, just choose your ticket type on checkout. 

• Short and engaging presentations with experts discussing poetry and wellbeing experiments  from a range of perspectives.
• Panel discussions about social isolation and connectedness, creative thinking to build social capital and resilience, and poetry and other creative practices that support the growth of personal and community wellbeing.
• Keynote address by UC Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Leadership, Bidjara woman Professor Maree Meredith, about art and health in and for Indigenous communities.
• Announcement of UC Vice-Chancellor's International Poetry Prize and Health Poetry Prize winners (including light catering).

Day Two - Saturday 23 November, 9am to 5pm, Rehearsal Room at Belconnen Arts Centre

• Creative workshops delivered by UC specialists: a haiku workshop, for connectedness and wellbeing, and a creative expression workshop, for health workers and researchers, to help participants improve their understanding of the impact of creative practice.
• Keynote address by Dr Vic McEwan, who works on themes of repair with diverse partners in sound, video, installation and performance, and is the first artist to complete an arts-led PhD from the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, with work that later featured at the Tate Liverpool.
• Facilitated panel discussion by arts health workers on social prescribing policy and approaches

Accessibility: both venues have accessibility options for attendees, please ask at reception. 

This event is hosted by the University of Canberra's Centre for Creative and Cultural Research in collaboration with the Health Research Institute and Belconnen Arts Centre as part of UC's Research Festival 2024. Get involved and explore the full program on our website.