Arts Well is a social enterprise with the aim of championing the role of the arts, culture and creativity in improving health and wellbeing. It provides programmes of participatory creative activities, supports organisations and freelance practitioners with training, professional development and networking opportunities, provides consultancy and evaluation support to creative projects and collaborates with others to add creativity and value to their work. We are a small team of two part-time staff (0.2 wte and 0.6 wte) with a board of 3 Directors, and we work with freelance practitioners and volunteers to deliver our projects. Our Founding Director, Jayne Howard, works four days per week on a national creative health programme. This creates a two-way flow of intelligence: bringing national insight and policy developments into Cornwall while raising Cornwall’s profile on the national stage. This has included discussions around the potential for a Creative Health Lead role within Cornwall’s health and care system. During the year from April 2025 to March 2026 we were operating at a significantly reduced capacity compared with the previous year. Creative Health and Wellbeing Partnership Arts Well continues to support the Creative Health and Wellbeing Partnership for Cornwall through its attendance at the quarterly meetings and advising on the development of the framework. VCSE Alliances We remain actively engaged across the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector and continue to advocate for creative health within key county-wide partnerships, including: 1. Strategic Alliance 2. Health and Wellbeing Alliance 3. Mental Health Alliance 4. Children and Young People’s Alliance We also contributed creative input to the annual VCSE Collaborative Alliance Event, strengthening cross-sector dialogue between the VCSE and public sector partners. Cornwall Partnership Foundation NHS Trust We are on the Steering Group for the development of a creative health strategy and action plan for CPFT, working across all their services. We supported their Board awayday with input on creative health and the contribution it can make to health and wellbeing. Medical and Nursing Education We provide a Special Study Unit for 4th Year Medical Students at Exeter University and are also in discussion with the School of Nursing at the same university about bringing a creative health module and placement programme into their curriculum. Research We completed our partnership on Project CREATE, led by the University of Leeds with Falmouth University as one of its academic partners. The research, funded by the UK Medical, Arts and Humanities and Economic and Social Research Councils, focused on arts-based mental health research in relation to adolescent mental health and loneliness. Our role was to facilitate local music workshops with young people to test out findings and methodologies, and to support the dissemination of the project with creative practitioners. We have also been approached by Falmouth University to partner them in a research project called Netscapers. The project aims to develop open-source resources, toolkits and artworks for future facing XR and internet-based projects and create new tools, methods and support for people to have freedom with digital media. Our role (if the grant application is successful) will be to facilitate workshops with local community groups, focusing on reducing digital exclusion. Arts Lab We are a founding partner, with Creative Kernow and Headstart Kernow, of the Arts Lab programme, which is currently funded by the Resettlement Team at Cornwall Council to work with young refugees and resettled families across Cornwall. Ambassador programme and Directory Our Creative Health Directory continues to be regularly updated and expanded. It is supported by our growing network of Arts Well Ambassadors, who act as local intelligence hubs across Cornwall. The Directory is publicly available via our website and is increasingly used as a signposting resource. We now have a full complement of Ambassadors covering all Community Area Partnerships in Cornwall, plus the Isles of Scilly. They serve as our “eyes and ears on the ground,” identifying local activity, gaps and opportunities. Quarterly group meetings and regular 1:1 contact ensure that grassroots intelligence directly informs the strategic development of creative health in Cornwall. Training and networking We have provided training at the Dementia Training day in Newquay in November, focusing on creativity and dementia; to medical students in November and March with a focus on creativity and the Five Ways to Wellbeing; creativity and young people’s mental health at an online training session in January and an online Introduction to Creative Health in February. We also held an in-person networking event in December in Truro, introducing our Ambassadors to creative practitioners and to CAP leads. We also supported a networking and CPD event for dance practitioners in February, focusing on how dance can contribute to a wide range of health issues, including Parkinson’s, Falls Prevention and Cancer Recovery. We delivered creative health workshops at 20 events across Cornwall, embedding creativity within trusted community settings and reaching people who may not otherwise engage with arts or health services. These included: 1. Camborne Children’s Clothing Bank – Ongoing monthly art club for children and families, providing creative activity in a supportive, stigma-free environment. 2. Newquay Foodbank – Creative sessions used as a vehicle for conversation around health and wellbeing needs. Insights gathered have informed the Foodbank’s planning and development programme. 3. Falmouth Art Gallery Fun Palace – “Painting with Scissors” workshop promoting every-day creativity as a tool for wellbeing. 4. World Mental Health Day at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall – “Fleet of Well-being” participatory installation encouraging reflection on mental health. 5. Trovya Library Events (Camelford, St Just, Camborne, Penzance, Perranporth) – Drop-in workshops enabling residents to discover local creative opportunities and understand the value of creativity for wellbeing. 6. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Fairs, Falmouth University (Penryn Campus) – Engaging young people in conversations about creative health and its role in addressing health inequalities. In addition, we commissioned two artists to deliver a half-day workshop in partnership with Cornwall Wildlife Trust for individuals experiencing mental health challenges. The session explored the combined benefits of nature and creativity for mental wellbeing, strengthening cross-sector collaboration between environmental and creative health partners.

Our stakeholders are primarily the creative and health and social care practitioners who are directly supporting people in the community. Through our newsletters and networking events we were regularly listening to their needs and concerns and tailoring our offer accordingly. The Arts Lab programme was specifically designed with co-creation with the young people at its heart; the artists respond to the needs of the young people and each project is shaped by the young people. We continue to work with our Ambassadors – these people are our ‘eyes and ears on the ground’ who can let us know what the local needs are, what are the opportunities and challenges in their communities and how can we help address them. Our newsletter invites people to let us know what would be useful to them and if there are other ways in which we can support them.

Director’s remuneration was £10,225 paid to one Director for work undertaken for Arts Well throughout the year. There were no other transactions or arrangements in connection with the remuneration of directors, or compensation for director’s loss of office, which require to be disclosed

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration