Course summary

Push your art practice and creativity beyond existing boundaries. Use your art for wellbeing and develop ethical, practical, and inclusive approaches addressing global health and wellbeing challenges. Make a positive contribution to society, healthcare and the planet through ethical and systemic creative interventions. As an Art Professional, you will develop the leadership skills, understanding and knowledge critical to creating dynamic and inclusive forms of participatory research and practice, community engagement, resilience building, and creative urban culture. ARU has been ranked in the top 20% of universities in the world for Good Health and Wellbeing in the 2023 Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings. You’ll gain a broad understanding of ethical and future health from the perspective of art and will tackle mental, physical, emotional, and social wellbeing issues in a global context. You will be rethinking existing places, environments, and communities including to reduce individual loneliness and isolation, aggression and discrimination, increasing prosocial behaviours, and improving social consciousness. You will be developing as an art professional, while building your profile and having the freedom to use your art for different purposes, such as mental health or community support. In a world that needs people to stay well, recover faster, manage long-term conditions, and experience a better quality of life, art professionals have never played such a central role - tackling physical, mental and social wellbeing as well as considering all forms of human productivity, strengthening local relationships, and building strong communities through art-based interventions and creative approaches that are connected, shared, and intelligent. At ARU, you’ll work closely with students from across the Cambridge School of Art [link Cambridge School of Art], including the postgraduate students from Human-Centred Design and Interior Design Innovation on an industry-led collaborative project and deliver public-facing events. As an Art, Health, and Wellbeing student in Cambridge [Link Cambridge Campus page], you’ll be able to work in a start-up environment and a relaxed culture in which creativity and creative problem solving are valued and build strong relationships and freely exchange thoughts and ideas. Most importantly, you’ll receive support and guidance from our experienced staff who, as well as running their own studio practice, have worked with companies such as the NHS, Prepared International, Nebama Mind, World Health Organization, and World Humanitarian Forum. The creative freedom offered by the course results in a variety of degree outputs based on art futuring, ideas and methods for creativity as an expanded ethical and professional practice, from social prescribing and increasing human connectivity, to overcoming fear, pain, anxiety, depression and stress. Talks from visiting lecturers and live briefs from industry are built into our course. They focus on areas including participatory research and practice, digital health, social design and sustainability, interactive storytelling and digital technologies, care systems and future health. We'll encourage you to build your profile by entering national and international competitions, as well as taking part in our own competitions such as the Sustainability Art Prize, the Arts and Wellbeing Award, and the British Council Venice Biennale Fellowship award. You'll have the chance to develop a business plan and pitch for start-up funding through our annual competition, The Big Pitch, and you can get involved in our Art & Care series of research talks and other and creative events.