Europe is facing rising levels of loneliness, social isolation, and the challenges of an ageing population. While the impacts are widely recognised, the role of arts and culture in addressing them remains largely underused in mainstream health policy. A large international project coordinated by Turku University of Applied Sciences aims to shift how Europe thinks about well-being and care by embedding culture more deeply in public health approaches.
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Coordinated by Arts Academy at Turku UAS, the project brings together researchers, cultural organisations, policymakers, and health professionals from 15 organisations across 13 European countries to explore how engagement with the arts and culture can contribute to population health and well-being.
The European Culture and Health Hub (ECHH 2026-2029) is a new, ambitious Horizon Europe initiative that aims to bring these ideas more directly into policy and practice—both in Finland and across Europe. The project aims to shift how Europe thinks about well-being and care by embedding culture more deeply in public health approaches.
The Arts, Health and Well-being Research Group at Turku UAS brings extensive European networks and a strong commitment to advancing interdisciplinary research, education, and practice in the field of creative well-being through international collaboration.
ECHH is an exciting new initiative that enables broad, cross-sectoral, and international cooperation. As project coordinators, we aim to contribute to ensuring that Finland remains at the forefront of global developments in creative well-being,” says Liisa Laitinen, ECHH Project Manager and member at the Arts, Health and Well-being Research Group, Turku University of Applied Sciences.
A strong policy signal for change came with the European Commission’s 2025 Open Method of Coordination report, Culture and Health: Time to Act, which calls on the EU and Member States to strengthen cooperation between the culture, health and social sectors. The report recognises cultural participation as a positive health behaviour and highlights its contribution to health promotion, disease prevention, mental health, social inclusion and community resilience.
A European hub to accelerate change
Among those involved is University College London Professor Daisy Fancourt, UNESCO Chair in Arts and Health and Director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre on Arts and Health, alongside leading European researchers working in the field.
Arts engagement is increasingly recognised as a health-promoting behaviour, and there are some fantastic programmes happening across the European region putting the evidence base into practice. ECHH is poised to catalyse the field by synthesizing and advancing the evidence base and translating the evidence into new programmes and policy”, says professor Daisy Fancourt.
At the centre of the initiative is the European Culture and Health Hub (ECHub), a collaborative platform designed to connect research, policy, and practice while strengthening the evidence base for culture and health. The ECHub is being developed in collaboration with policymakers, practitioners, researchers and local communities, ensuring that its outputs reflect real-world needs.
“ECHH aims to build bridges between policymakers and practitioners across the culture, health, social care, humanitarian, youth and education sectors. Through ECHub, it provides a shared space for learning, capacity building, collaboration and policy development, helping to translate knowledge into concrete action and more effective policies at European, national, regional and local levels”, says Liisa Laitinen.
Stakeholder feedback will directly shape the development of the ECHub, including tools that map where evidence is strong and where gaps remain, alongside policy guidance at EU, national, regional, and local levels. Alongside this, the ECHH initiative will test, evaluate, and scale culture-and-health interventions, across multiple European settings, supporting regional capacity-building initiatives to help practitioners and organisations implement evidence-based approaches.
A strong European partnership
Launching June 2026, the European Culture and Health Hub (ECHH) is a €2 million Horizon Europe initiative. The project will run for three years (2026–2029) and brings together 20 organisations, including 15 project partners and 5 associated partners, representing higher education institutions, research centres, cultural organisations, NGOs, and health networks across Europe.
The project partners are:
- Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland),
- University College London (United Kingdom)
- The Center for Primary Health Care Research Region Skåne (Sweden),
- Culture Action Europe (Belgium),
- EuroHealthNet (Belgium),
- University of Porto (Portugal),
- Cultural Welfare Center ETS (Italy)
- Cultura en Vena (Spain)
- Nord University (Norway)
- Arts in Health Netherlands (Netherlands)
- Latvian Academy of Culture (Latvia)
- Mozarteum University Salzburg (Austria)
- Cluj Cultural Centre (Romania)
- University of Southern Denmark (Denmark)
- Hope UK (United Kingdom).
This project is additionally supported by associated partners contributing international expertise, policy engagement, and cross-sector collaboration:
- Arts + Health Ireland / Réalta (Ireland)
- Secretariat of the Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture (Latvia)
- United Cities and Local Governments (Spain)
- UNESCO (France)
- and the Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being (Sweden).
