Course in Arts and Culture Provides Knowledge and Tools to Promote Health and Well-being
The National Institute of Public Health is once again offering the continuing education course “Arts and Culture for Health and Well-being”. The course provides insight into how health promotion can be approached in new ways.
After positive experiences with the first course in 2025, “Art and Culture for Health and Well-being” will be offered again in 2026.
This time, the course begins in February 2026. It is aimed at anyone seeking knowledge, inspiration, and practical tools for working with art and culture as a means of promoting health—whether within the social, health, or cultural sectors.
In addition to lectures and group work, the program includes museum visits, shared reading, creative writing, dance, and crafts.
“Arts and culture are increasingly being incorporated into health promotion and prevention, and the evidence for their positive effects is growing. The purpose of the course is to give participants knowledge, tools, and inspiration to work with health-promoting arts and cultural initiatives,” explains Mette Marie Kristensen, course coordinator and postdoc at the National Institute of Public Health.
Participants will gain insight into how arts and culture can improve health and well-being, and how they can be used as resources in health work. They will also learn how to plan, implement, and evaluate health-promoting arts and culture initiatives.
A Space for Knowledge Sharing and Networking
Teaching is provided by researchers from health sciences, social sciences, and the humanities, while practical workshops are led by professionals from the art and culture sectors.
The course consists of eight teaching days spread over four months. During the program, participants will develop a plan for a cultural and health-related activity that they can implement in their own practice.
The course has space for 25 participants, and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.
“The course is also a space for knowledge sharing and networking. We saw that participants from the first program benefitted greatly from learning from each other’s experiences and have since continued to collaborate across sectors,” says Mette Marie Kristensen.
The evaluation of the 2025 course showed that participants especially valued the strong theoretical foundation and the new inspiration they gained. Several also noted that the course made it easier to argue for and develop concrete cultural and health-related initiatives in their own practice.
An online information meeting will be held on 7 October, 15:00–15:45, where you can learn more about the course.
The course is offered in collaboration with the healthcare sector in Region Skåne and Lund University.
Contact: Mette Marie Kristensen, Course Coordinator and Postdoc, Tel.: +45 6550 7805, Email: memk@sdu.dk; Professor Anna Paldam Folker, Tel.: +45 6550 7860, Email: anpf@sdu.dk. National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark