Creativity & Wellbeing Week 2026: Celebrating Creative Health Across Wandsworth
From Monday 18 to Friday 22 May 2026, Wandsworth will be taking part in Creativity & Wellbeing Week, a national festival led by London Arts and Health and the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance that celebrates the role of creativity in supporting health and wellbeing.
Originally launched in 2012 as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad legacy, Creativity & Wellbeing Week has grown into a major national moment for sharing practice, learning from one another, and shining a spotlight on the incredible creative health work taking place in communities across the UK.
This year, Wandsworth is delighted to be part of that conversation, showcasing the people, partnerships and places that make our borough a leader in creative health.
Creative Health recognises the vital role that arts, culture and creativity play in improving mental health, physical wellbeing, social connection and belonging. From community‑based workshops and performances to activities in libraries, hospitals and neighbourhood spaces, creativity supports people to thrive, particularly at times of change or challenge.
For Wandsworth, it’s also an opportunity to showcase the strength of our community and the legacy of our LBOC Programme, including Culturally Mindful.
The Culturally Mindful legacy projects build on the success of Wandsworth’s creative health programme, supporting artists and organisations to create lasting impact beyond initial funding. Delivered across community, health and care settings, these projects focus on improving wellbeing, reducing isolation and increasing confidence for participants, while also developing sustainable approaches.
Projects include:
- Share Community – Threads of Heritage, led by artists Jeni Manning and Bridie Woodburn, delivering a sensory textile and mixed‑media creative health programme with adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults across Share Community sites.
- Wandsworth Carers’ Centre – Young Carers Creative Health, with artist Francis Augusto, embedding photography and zine‑making into wellbeing support for young carers while building long‑term organisational creative health capacity.
- Sound Minds – Bridging Minds, led by artist Angel Knight, delivering an extended creative health programme for Black and Global Majority communities through visual arts and peer‑led creative practice.
- 575 Wandsworth Road – Beyond Borders, working with refugees and people seeking sanctuary to explore migration, belonging and wellbeing through heritage‑inspired creative health, resulting in a Creative Health Toolkit.
- PCOS Creative Health Project, led by artist Asma Istwani, co‑designing creative sessions with women and people living with Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to address isolation, emotional wellbeing and agency.
- From Fragment to Whole Toolkit, developed by artist Rebecca Olajide in partnership with Age UK Wandsworth, creating an accessible creative health toolkit for older adults, including people living with dementia.
- Humara Mohallah, delivered by artist Saira Niazi and Roehampton Wellbeing for Women and Children, reconnecting South Asian women with creativity, place and community through workshops and cultural walking tours.
- Youth Battersea – Fearless and Free, led by artist Sabrina Hilaire, providing music‑based creative health mentoring for girls using trauma‑informed approaches.
- Youth Emotional Development Programme, led by artist Tanya Aquaah, supporting girls’ emotional wellbeing through group‑based creative practice with visible legacy outputs.
- Rest and Reimagination, delivered by artists Tsipora St Clair Knights and Shiza Naveed at Katherine Low Settlement, combining creativity, rest and care with migrant and refugee communities.
- Creative Access Toolkit, developed by artist Roopa Basu, testing visual‑first creative health tools to reduce participation barriers across multiple Wandsworth settings.
- ESEA Storytelling & Audio Project, led by artist Youyang in partnership with Kambala Community Alliance Space and Riverside Radio, amplifying East and South‑East Asian voices through creative audio practice.
- Springfield Park Creative Health Project, delivered by artist Roopa Basu with South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, supporting patients through outdoor creative workshops and public artwork.
- Queen Mary’s Hospital Creative Health Programme, led by artist Monique Jackson, supporting neuro‑rehabilitation outpatients through co‑designed creative resources embedded into care environments.
- St George’s Hospital Sickle Cell Programme, delivered by artist Ken Nwadiogbu, using music and visual arts to address pain, isolation and identity within sickle cell care.
- Royal Hospital for Neuro‑disability Creative Health Residency, embedding artist‑led practice into inpatient and bedside care to support expression, connection and wellbeing.
Alongside this, organisations are developing toolkits, frameworks and embedded delivery models that will ensure creative health continues to grow across Wandsworth long after the projects have ended.
CHIC Wandsworth: Connecting People, Practice and Place
As part of Creativity & Wellbeing Week, we’ll be hosting an online CHIC Wandsworth network meeting, bringing together our creative health community to connect, reflect and look ahead.
- Tues 19 May, 10:30am - 12pm
- Book your free place here.
This session will also be a chance to celebrate and announce the new leaders of the Network, marking an important next step in strengthening and sustaining this community of practice.
Creativity & Wellbeing Week will also see the activation of two new Creative Health & Wellbeing hubs in the borough:
Focus Hall in Roehampton: with taster activities ranging from The Big Read on Saturday 16 May and the relaunch of Messy Play on Friday 22 May, to a Creative Drop-In session on Tuesday 19 May.
Kambala Community Alliance Space: a new creative health and wellbeing hub shaped with community at its heart to strengthen connection, support local organisations and create opportunities for residents to come together. There will be an opening celebration for this hub on Friday 22 May (126 Fawcett Close, SW11 2LU).
Spotlight on Creative Health Activity Across the Borough
One of the most exciting parts of Creativity & Wellbeing Week is seeing the variety of creative health activity taking place across Wandsworth. We’re already aware of some fantastic things happening during the week, including:
- Art and Soul Exhibition, showcasing artwork by the Alton group. After launching at Focus Hall on 18 May (12 - 2pm), the exhibition will be on display at Roehampton Library (9am – 5pm) from 19 – 22 May
- Mondays at the R.O.S.E on 18 May offers a full day of arts & crafts activities from 11am to 6pm, ending with Vinyassa Yoga at 7pm
- What Next Wandsworth invites local creatives to review Wandsworth’s London Borough of Culture Year on 21 May (4.30pm - 5.30pm) at Battersea Arts Centre
- A men’s Sea Shanty Sing-Along on 22 May (2 - 4pm) at Katherine Low Settlement, using music, voice and shared experience to support wellbeing and connection
- A series of historic walks presented by Wandsworth Heritage Festival over the weekend of 23 - 24 May
- View Carmen (2025), a new film artwork by Dame Sonia Boyce OBE RA, free at Battersea Arts Centre until 25 May
These are great examples of how Creative Health shows up in different ways - across neighbourhoods, settings and communities - and we’re keen to highlight as many local activities as possible.
Creativity & Wellbeing Week is a moment to pause, reflect and celebrate - but it’s also about building momentum. By taking part, Wandsworth is contributing to a national conversation while strengthening local connections and visibility for creative health practice. Check out our What's On page to see what activities are local to you, and get involved! Creative Health is for all of us.
