Healing Arts Birmingham
The University supported Birmingham in hosting England’s first globally recognised city-wide programme connecting art, culture and public health: Healing Arts
Birmingham Healing Arts Week (HABrum) took place from Monday 22 to Sunday 28 June 2026, delivered in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, led by Birmingham City Council (BCC) and Jameel Arts and Health (JAHL) - a global initiative to measurably improve health and wellbeing through the arts – and supported by University’s Culture Forward initiative and Ikon Gallery as Core Partners.
HABrum saw more than 60 partner organisations in the city and region deliver over 80 workshops, talks, lectures, exhibitions, performances, conferences and other events across neighbourhoods, suburbs, cultural venues and community spaces.
Previously held in New York, Barcelona, and Singapore, HABrum saw international delegates join local communities and families, academics and others in a broad programme that promoted creativity and culture to prevent ill-health and drive health and wellbeing.
Central image copyright of Yasmin Joanna Wood.
Within this programme, the University delivered and supported several events that brought together creativity, research, communities and public health, including:
- an Uli painting workshop and talk as part of the Beyond the Fattening Room project
- an in-conversation discussion with Black British artist-photographer Vanley Burke
- a pinhole camera workshop with HMP Birmingham Artist-in-Residence Niki Gandy
- an Ikon Gallery-led arts, prisons and health symposium drawn from their ongoing Arts in Prisons project, and
- a community-led, downloadable audio-tour, created by two University of Birmingham student interns, to mark the 100th anniversary of the city’s No.11 ‘Outer Circle’ bus route
The University’s contribution to HABrum was evaluated by one of our students, Fay Carpenter (MA International Heritage Management), on a Collaborative Research Internship working with the BCC Public Health Team and JAHL.
- Download the Evaluation Report (PDF, 713KB)
The University of Birmingham was a proud partner in Healing Arts Birmingham. Through the University's Culture Forward initiative - which draws together local cultural, creative and community sectors with our researchers, academics and students to further research, education and public engagement collaborations – we were pleased to support, coordinate and deliver a breadth of diverse events and activities in collaboration with colleagues from across our disciplines as well as our external partners. Our programme demonstrated how research partnerships between universities, communities and the cultural and creative industries are critical to making tangible improvements to public health and wellbeing. Healing Arts Birmingham was a superb vehicle to engage diverse audiences in what creative health means and the forms it takes, and to involve individuals in shaping their own wellbeing, and that of others, through visual arts, collections, performance, film and media. We look forward to seeing how creative health develops in the city, and explore how the University can continue to shape its development.
Healing Arts is an initiative produced by JAHL that delivers cultural and creative interventions in different cities globally to improve physical, mental, and social health. With a focus on overlooked and underserved communities, JAHL leverages scientific evidence, artist-led advocacy, and capacity building to drive the integration of the arts into mainstream healthcare.