The arts, including music, dance, theatre, visual arts and writing, are increasingly recognised as having the potential to support health and wellbeing. However, in order for arts to be included in commissioning of health and social care services, there needs to be robust evidence of their effectiveness, impacts and costs.
This document, the first of it kind, has been published by Public Health England and endorsed by Arts Council England. It provides guidance on appropriate ways to document the impacts of arts for health and wellbeing, whether through small scale project evaluations or large scale research studies.