Healing Arts Birmingham
Via Culture Forward, the University of Birmingham has partnered with Birmingham City Council (BCC), Ikon Gallery and Jameel Arts and Health Lab (JAHL) to deliver Healing Arts Birmingham in June 2026.
The JAHL is a global initiative to measurably improve health and wellbeing through the arts. With a focus on overlooked and underserved communities, the Lab leverages scientific evidence, artist-led advocacy, and capacity building to drive the integration of the arts into mainstream healthcare.
Puzzle, made in Birmingham, in the form of a maze showing the path from 'Slumdon'; Wellcome L0059606.jpg
Healing Arts is an initiative produced by Jameel Arts and Health Lab that delivers cultural and creative interventions in different cities across the world to improve physical, mental, and social health. In each location JAHL works with local arts, cultural, creative, community, health and social care organisations to develop and deliver an interactive programme of arts engagement activities.
Previous sites for Healing Arts programmes have taken place in Houston, Jaipur India, Venice, New York, Paris and London. Healing Arts advocates include Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus (Director-General, WHO), Gillian Anderson (Multi-award-winning film, TV and theatre actress), Antony Gormley OBE (Multi-award-winning artist), Lord Vaizey (former DCMS Secretary of State), Patrick J Kennedy (mental health advocate and former US House Representative), and Renée Fleming (creative health advocate and multi-award-winning classical and opera singer).
1996V148.161 Queen's College, Birmingham; Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0
Birmingham Healing Arts Week (HABrum) will take place from Monday 22 to Friday 26 June 2026. BCC and JAHL are leading the programme with the University’s Culture Forward initiative and Ikon Gallery supporting as Core Partners in helping to collate the programme.
More specifically, Culture Forward and the University will be delivering a workshop for Birmingham’s cultural, creative and community sectors on creative health, and co-curating with Ikon Gallery an academic symposium exploring the vital role of arts in prison environments.