Creative artistic activities have been part of human life for millennia, supporting the expression of identity and strengthening social bonds while also contributing to physical and mental wellbeing. Since the emergence of music and creative arts therapies after the First World War in the UK and Europe, the health benefits of the arts have been increasingly recognised across the world.
Research has demonstrated, for example, that singing can enhance physical health through improved breath control, and can support focus and cognitive clarity in people living with dementia. Across art forms, creative participation has been found to foster social connection in diverse contexts—including intercultural exchanges—and to help individuals manage stress and anxiety. As a result, arts-based activities have been intentionally developed to harness these benefits more broadly.
During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread social isolation and financial pressures contributed to an unprecedented mental health crisis. Those of us advocating for creative arts to be integrated into mainstream health and wellbeing services felt that this was a crucial moment to translate knowledge into action. Reports throughout the pandemic highlighted that activities such as listening to music or engaging in arts and crafts helped many people feel more grounded and supported. In Melbourne—one of the cities that experienced the world’s longest lockdowns—our team within the Creativity and Wellbeing Initiative at the University of Melbourne evaluated creative arts participation and examined its role in reducing loneliness and social isolation. We found strong evidence that people engaged meaningfully with these activities; even when carried out online and at home, artistic practices offered spaces for meaning-making, emotional expression and regulation, skill development, knowledge-sharing, and the building of positive relationships.
When I joined the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham in September 2025, I had been exploring how arts engagement supports “creative individuation” and “relational expansion,” including how processes such as mindfulness, emotion regulation, perspective-shifting, purpose-finding, self-knowledge, inspiration from others, and self-acceptance all affect people’s wellbeing. At the IAS, I became part of an interdisciplinary team examining how the benefits of creative engagement can be embedded in workplaces—particularly during key transition points such as beginning a new role, returning from a career break, or preparing for retirement. Bringing together diverse disciplinary insights and earlier findings, our project has been developing to enhance workers’ capacity to prevent and address loneliness, to develop the skills necessary to sustain individual and collective wellbeing during challenging transitions, and to strengthen the ability of organisations to support social connection across the workforce.
Professor Jane Davidson, University of Melbourne
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