The concept ‘place’ is crucial for what we do with cultural heritage, as the nature, identity and sense of a place determines how heritage is perceived and engaged with. Especially when it comes to creative health there is a strong focus between place and health inequities. This conference explores place based approaches to creative health and cultural heritage.
You will hear from practitioners and researchers (or a combination of both) about how they combine cultural heritage and place, be it a method or an actual physical place, to improve the wellbeing of individuals and tackle health inequities.
The symposium is open to everybody interested in creative health.
Programme:
- Bruce Davenport (School of Arts and Cultures, Newcastle University) and Sonja Kielty (Bradford Museum & Galleries) on place making, volunteers and resilience.
- Cheryl McGeachan (Human Geography Research Group, University of Glasgow) on people, place and objects.
- Bart Marius (Director Dr. Guislain Museum, Belgium) on his museum as a place of care and an asset for the community and a mental health hospital.
- Chris Sharp (Keeper Leeds Industrial Museum) on the museum as a place of sanctuary.
- Bart De Nil (University College London Arts & Sciences) on public libraries as social infrastructure.
- Estelle Cooper (Bradford 2025) on Bradford 2025 creative health projects.
More names will be added to the programme in the coming weeks.
At the end we are going to launch the enrollment of a new an international training event in Glasgow on Place and Creative Health from 9 till 13 March 2026. And also the call for contributions for the 3rd International Conference Culture & Mental Health on 26 an 27 November 2026 in Ghent (Belgium).
Practical Info:
- Where: Bradford City Hall, banqueting hall Get directions with Google Maps
- When: 14 November 2025, 13h – 15h (doors open at 12h30).
- Registration: Attendance is free, but we ask you to register
This symposium is organised by UCL Arts and Sciences and Bradford Libraries
Photo: (c) Balder Deschildre
