What is Creative Health?
We know that taking part in creative and cultural activity can contribute to longer, healthier, and happier lives – a connection often referred to as Creative Health. 
Children dancing to develop their balance, people with asthma singing together to improve their lung capacity, young people exploring their emotions through photography – are all examples of Creative Health happening right now across Greater Manchester.
Creative Health in GM
Greater Manchester is recognised as a national and world reference for Creative Health.
We are delivering our GM Creative Health Strategy, and aim to become the world’s first Creative Health City Region.
GM is integrating culture and creative engagement into health, social care and community initiatives to support physical and mental health, to increase social connection and to reduce inequalities.
Creative Health is part of Live Well: Greater Manchester’s shared commitment to ensuring great everyday support is available in every neighbourhood and our aim is that by 2035, culture and creativity will be at the heart of all our residents’ health and wellbeing, contributing to vibrant, happier and healthier communities, supporting growth and enabling residents to thrive physically, mentally, socially, and creatively.
What is the Place Partnership?
The GM Creative Health Place Partnership supports the development and delivery of creative health activity across Greater Manchester and is supported by Arts Council England.
The partnership includes NHS Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, the 10 GM local authorities and partners from across the cultural, VCFSE, health, social care and higher education sectors.
We are mobilising Greater Manchester’s rich cultural assets and strengthening their capacity to support people’s health and wellbeing through training, networking and opportunities to pilot new ways of working.
Alongside the development of Creative Health capacity and infrastructure, we are delivering six work strands that focus on particular challenges faced by our communities: early years and school readiness; neurodivergent young adults getting into work; global majority communities and mental health; adults living with long term lung conditions; older people with caring responsibilities.
Early Moves
Early Moves has been developed with national dance organisation Rambert and the GMCA School Readiness Team to support pre-school children with their motor skills and to build the skills and confidence of early years practitioners. 
The project trains and supports practitioners to introduce structured movement sessions into the daily routine of early years settings (nurseries), working with children aged 2–4 years.
Evidence from ongoing evaluation is demonstrating improvements in children’s motor skills, speech, language and communication, as well as positive impacts on practitioner wellbeing and confidence.
Watch a video exploring the project here
Speech and language through storytelling
Delivered in partnership with GM Libraries, Z‑Arts, speech and language specialists, and early years leads, Early Moves supports families where children have an identified speech and language need through creative storytelling. 
Families are invited to take part in storytelling sessions designed to strengthen early communication and increase parent and carer confidence.
The project also gives library staff tools to support families with emerging speech, language and communication needs.
Myriad
Myriad is a cross-sector partnership of global majority-led organisations who deliver mental health and wellbeing support for underserved, global majority communities. 
Phase one of the Myriad project included a training programme for emerging global majority practitioners, a core competency framework for practitioners, and five creative projects with community-based organisations. Phase two will extend this training and further test and disseminate our core competency framework for practitioners.
You can find out more on the partner microsite and we invite you to download a copy of the Myriad Core Competency Framework for your own use.
Watch a short video about the project here
Supporting neurodivergent young adults into employment
Through our partnership with Venture Arts, we are developing a creative programme that supports neurodivergent young adults into good work.
The project is also offering training and employment opportunities to neurodivergent creative practitioners.
Working with ZU-UK, we are also co-designing a training tool for employers who want to become more neuro-inclusive. The tool uses immersive technology , is being co-designed with employers and neurodivergent young people and will be available in autumn 2026.
Adults living with COPD and asthma
English National Opera (ENO) is working with GM respiratory teams to adapt their award-winning ENO Breathe programme to support adults living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) or Asthma.
ENO Breathe supports participants with breathing techniques that come from the world of opera but don’t require you to sing a note. 
We are currently working with clinicians to ensure that as many patients as possible can access this new approach through sessions delivered online.
Find out more about ENO Breathe.
Older carers and brain health
After a GM wide co-design phase with the GM Ageing in Place Pathfinder, Adult Social Care, Dementia United and community partners, we are working with Trafford Carers to test ways to connect older adults who have caring responsibilities to creative activities that support their brain health and wellbeing. 
Infrastructure and workforce
The GM Creative Health Place Partnership is also supporting the long term sustainability of creative health approaches in Greater Manchester by developing skills, knowledge and partnerships.
Training and support for practitioners:
Create Well; the GM Creative Health Network, provides networking, learning and support to creative practitioners across the health, social care, culture, VCFSE and academic sectors. Find out more and join the network.
For each work strand completed, we will publish a competency framework designed to support Creative Health Practitioners with their professional development and to support leaders to identify the skills needed for specific pieces of work. Find the first competency framework for practitioners working within the context of global majority mental health.
Training and support for health and social care professionals:
Creative Health Champions offers professionals an opportunity to develop knowledge of Creative Health and ongoing support to integrate creative health approaches into their own work. We currently offer a series of short (3 hour modules) on a rolling basis.
Who is this progarmme for?
- People working in the health, social care, local authority and voluntary sector across Greater Manchester
- People who want to influence change, be that in communities, in the workplace, with peers, or in a wider system.
What outcomes can you expect?
- A confident understanding of creative health and its relationship/ potential relationship to your own practice.
- Building a network of peers for mutual support, collaboration and learning.
- A knowledge of best practice, evidence and research in how Creative Health can support health and wellbeing.
Here is a selection of modules currently available:
- Module 1: Creative Health and Health Inequalities Delivered with the National Centre for Creative Health
- Module 2: Older adults, Brain Health and Creative Health. Delivered with Dr Sarah Fox, Brain Health Fellow at The University of Manchester.
- Module 3: Global Majority Mental Health. Developed through learning and evidence from the Myriad Project.
- Module 4: Creative Health Quality Framework. Delivered with the Culture Health and Wellbeing Alliance.
Please contact Angela Whitecross to find out more or register for your free place. Email angela.whitecross@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk.
Research and evaluation
Creative Manchester is one of three research platforms at the University of Manchester and is a key partner in Creative Health research in Greater Manchester.
As well as hosting a Creative Health Research Associate, Creative Manchester also develops and sustains interdisciplinary research, identifies research opportunities and supports us to explore new areas of enquiry.
A Knowledge Mobilisation Research Associate, funded by the GM Civic University Accord is working with us to evaluate the GM Creative Health Place Partnership and to draw out lessons for others on how Creative Health can be embedded into health and care systems.
The post is based at the University of Manchester, working closely with Creative Manchester.
Want to know more about Creative Health?
The National Centre for Creative Health advocates for Creative Health in national policy.
National Centre for Creative HealthThe Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance is a membership organisation for those involved in creative health across England.
Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance