Culture That Heals: A Blueprint for the Future
At the heart of Wandsworth’s London Borough of Culture programme is a bold commitment to Creative Health, embedding arts and culture into wellbeing at an unprecedented scale. Culture heals - and through a series of pioneering initiatives, Wandsworth will set a new benchmark for integrating creativity into health and social care throughout the life cycle.
Culturally Mindful
One of the flagship initiatives is Culturally Mindful, a sector diversification programme designed to reshape the creative health workforce. Over 2025-26, 10 Global Majority artists will undertake bespoke training, action learning and residencies across the borough, embedded in secondary care settings and grassroots organisations. Each artist will co-design a creative health programme tailored to the needs of their host community, ensuring culturally relevant, high-impact interventions. These residencies will open new pathways for creative health practice while addressing long-standing health inequalities.
Memory Boxes
Memory Boxes for Dementia, in partnership with the University of Roehampton and local organisations, will bring Wandsworth’s rich heritage collection into care homes and community spaces. These bespoke interactive time capsules—filled with sensory objects, archive materials, and recordings—will be used to spark connection, trigger memories, and support wellbeing for people living with dementia.
Cultural Social Prescribing
The borough is also continuing its groundbreaking Cultural Social Prescribing initiative in partnership with Enable, expanding access to arts-based health interventions across GPs, hospitals, and voluntary sector networks. By embedding creative health into social prescribing pathways, Wandsworth is ensuring that arts and culture remain a core part of preventative healthcare and community wellbeing.
In one of the borough’s most underserved areas, the Alton Estate in Roehampton, every primary school and youth centre will host a dedicated Creative Health programme, ensuring that hundreds of children benefit from arts-based wellbeing initiatives. Designed to support mental resilience, emotional expression, and creative confidence, these programmes will connect young people with artists, storytellers, and musicians in their local community.
