Arts – Health – Entrepreneurship?

A Conference on arts and health projects and practices organised on 22-23 October 2012 in Helsinki

The ARTS – HEALTH – ENTREPRENEURSHIP? conference is focusing on the management and entrepreneurship within arts and health projects. What skills and competencies are needed in the field? What does the field offer to arts/cultural operators? How to solve the challenge of funding and financing?

There have been several projects piloting new methods for using art based process to improve wellbeing of clients in social and health care sectors. Starting point of these projects is an artist working in a care unit and mediators understanding both artistic and health care interests for co-operation. These pilots have shown that in this surrounding the cultural operator needs to have good skills and specific competencies in order to make projects sustainable and successful.

A central challenge is how to turn the innovative pilots into permanent practices, products and stable employment. This conference aims at looking into this challenge. This conference is an initiative of the ENCATC Arts and Health Thematic Area and is organized by the Cultural Management Degree Programme, Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences

In fact, in the context of arts and health, we are dealing with activities which fall into the border area of art/culture, as well as that of social services/health care. The field of applied art is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary.

Two topics of the conference are:

1. CURRICULA DEVELOPMENT – There is a challenge to improve arts management aimed at professionals working in intermediary positions between the artists and health care units. Specific competences are needed when working in inter-disciplinary surroundings. Financial management is a part of the arts and health project development.
2. ENTREPRENEURSHIP – As seen in the piloted arts and health projects a central need is to find ways to enhance creative ideas into sustainable practices and entrepreneurship. We need to focus on financing models, client basis and value chain of production as well as the service development.

Program and registration can be found here