Arts Council of Wales - Arts, Health and Wellbeing Programme

Arts Council of Wales is providing the Arts, Health and Wellbeing programme with funding from the National Lottery.

Grants are available to support partnerships from across the arts, health, social care and third sectors to provide high-quality creative projects that deliver health and wellbeing benefits for the people of Wales.

The programme supports Arts Council of Wales' priorities as set out in its corporate plan, For the Benefit of All. This programme area will help the Arts Council to meet its priorities around equalities, diversity, the Welsh language, nurturing creative talent and supporting sector resilience.

Specifically, the Arts, Health and Wellbeing programme supports partnerships of organisations across the arts, health, social care and third sectors in delivering high-quality creative projects that offer health and wellbeing benefits for the people of Wales.

The following levels of funding are available:

• Small grants from £500 to £10,000 to support new ideas within Arts and Health contexts.
• Large grants from £10,001 to £50,000 to develop, grow or scale a successful model or embed and sustain a programme. In exceptional cases, where a programme has already been successfully developed and is ready for significant scaling-up or extends over a few years, applications higher than the £50,000 limit may be considered. All grants cover up to 90% of total project costs.

Organisations can also apply for funding to design and deliver Arts and Health-related training in priority areas. These can be at either the Small grant or Large grant level.

Applicants will need to identify at least 10% match funding from other sources.

Applications should be developed by a partnership/consortium of organisations and artists and must include both a health and arts partner. One of the partners will need to take the lead as the primary applicant and act as the accountable body.

To be eligible, organisations must:

• Be based in Wales, or another UK nation.

• Be formally constituted as one of the following:

• Health Board / NHS Trust / GP cluster / organisation providing social care.

• Registered charity (including charitable trusts).

• Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

• Community Interest Company (CIC).

• Company Limited by Shares.

• Company Limited by Guarantee.

• Unincorporated Association.

• Partnership, including a Limited Liability Partnership.

• Local authority, university or other public body.

• Individual Artist or Creative Freelancer.

• Have a bank account in the organisation's name that has at least two people who can authorise transactions.

• Have an Equal Opportunities Policy that has been reviewed by the organisation's governing body within the last three years - and that complies with current legislation.

• Not be in default of any financial agreement with Arts Council of Wales.

• Not have any overdue requirements on any other Arts Council of Wales funding.

• Have a Safeguarding / Child Protection Policy that complies with current legislation and has been reviewed by the organisation's governing body within the last three years, if the project involves working with children, young people or vulnerable adults.

The programme is particularly seeking to support creative projects that aim to address the following health challenges:

• Mental Health - including tackling loneliness / social isolation and social prescribing schemes that aim to build resilience and address mental ill health.
• Health Inequalities - projects that are designed to bring health and wellbeing benefits through the arts to people from more diverse backgrounds. This includes Deaf and disabled people, neurodiverse people, Ethnically and Culturally diverse people as well as those whose health and wellbeing has been adversely affected through poverty.
• Physical Health and Wellbeing - arts projects that support improved physical health or keep people physically active through the arts during/following the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Staff Wellbeing - within the healthcare and/or arts workforce.

Applicants are required to discuss their project with Arts Council of Wales to make sure that the funding amount they are requesting is appropriate for the scale of their project.

Organisations applying for £50,000 or under (including additional access costs) will receive a decision within six weeks from the deadline date. Applications requesting over £50,000 (including additional access costs) will receive a decision within 12 weeks from the deadline.

The online application system and guidance documents can be found on the Arts Council of Wales website.