The closing meeting of the Art & Well-being (AWE) project brought together representatives of project partners and took place in Brussels, on 2-3 December 2021. The meeting was hosted at Bozar, the Centre for Fine Arts Brussels and participants included team members of the Cluj Cultural Centre, Bozar and Maribor Art Gallery.
During the meeting each partner presented their project activities and results, sharing lessons learned through the implementation. One of the meeting sessions was dedicated to an in depth discussion on the cultural prescription piloted by partners. Benefitting from the presence of experts on audience engagement from Bozar, the session considered the benefits and shortcomings of various intervention models, analysed the experiences and the results of the implemented pilots, and included a discussion on further steps. The meeting was also the occasion to share the projects’ publication In AWE – Experiences of Art as Well-being.
Bianca Floarea, an expert on assessment of cultural projects, was invited to facilitate an evaluation discussion, providing a qualitative perspective on the project cooperation and results and highlighting intentions to further work on the art and well-being dimension. The discussion was set up as a focus group structured on four dimensions: (1) Personal and institutional perspectives on art & well-being before and after the project; (2) Collaborations throughout the project; (3) Impact on audiences and (4) Professional practices.
Art & Well-being was designed as an exploratory project aimed to create innovative interventions, engage new audiences, and raise awareness on the challenges that urban dwelling and a fast paced contemporary life pose to physical, emotional and mental health of people in Europe. The journey that we have been through during the past two years has facilitated rich and inspiring art experiences, insightful reflections and research findings, productive collaborations and directly benefited individuals and communities. Project partners share the view that the project has been successful in reaching its objectives and bringing visibility and awareness around the power of the arts to support health and well-being.
The project was implemented by the Cluj Cultural Centre (Romania, lead partner), Bozar – Center for Fine Arts, Brussels (Belgium), UGM – Maribor Art Gallery (Slovenia) and Bruno Kessler Foundation (Italy) and was co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
