Culture and Health Forum
The international Culture and Health Forum will focus on artists working at the intersection of culture, health, care, education and social sectors. The event is open to everyone interested in themes arts, culture, health and well-being and international cooperation.
WHEN
29. – 30.9.2025
WHERE
Culture and Health Forum is a two-day international event organized as part of the Culture and Health Platform project (2024–2028). The updated event schedule and detailed descriptions of the parallel sessions can be found here (pdf).
The event will bring together
- emerging artists working at the intersection of culture, health, care, education and social sectors
- educators, researchers and students in the field of arts, culture and health
- other professionals and students interested in research on and practices of arts, culture and wellbeing
- organizations advocating for the use of arts and culture to enhance health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.
Culture and Health Forum will showcase and share best practices and latest research in the field of arts, culture and health. The Event will be organized by the Arts Academy of Turku UAS in collaboration with Taikusydän Arts & Health Coordination Centre in Finland, and the Nordic Arts and Health Research Network.
Following the Culture and Health Forum, we will host the following closed events on Wednesday and Thursday, 1–2 October:
Wednesday 8:30–12:00: Nordic Arts and Health Research Network Membership Meeting
Location: Turku Arts Academy, Kuvateatteri, Linnankatu 54, 1st Floor
Wednesday 9:00–16:00: CultureAndHealth Platform Consortium Project Meeting
Location: Turku Arts Academy, Classrooms H319/330, Linnankatu 54, 3rd Floor
Wednesday & Thursday 9:00–16:00: Artist Training Workshop by CultureAndHealth Platform
Location: Turku Arts Academy, Rope Theatre and Studio Theatre, Linnankatu 54-60, 1st Floor
Practical information
The Culture and Health Forum is free of charge. Event includes the programme, workshops and coffee break refreshments. Please note that lunch is not included in the event. However, we warmly recommend enjoying lunch at Restaurant Sigyn, located at the event venue. The restaurant is prepared to serve lunch to all event participants and will accommodate any dietary restrictions provided during registration. In line with our commitment to sustainable development, we aim to reduce food waste and offer vegan options as part of the lunch selection.
Sigyn Lunch Menu, price 11 euros.
Registration for the parallel sessions is closed. Each participant received a registration link via email. Changes to selections will not be possible during the Forum days. If you did not register for the parallel sessions in advance, you will be guided to available spots at the registration point in the Sigyn Hall Lounge.
More information: taikusydan@turkuamk.fi
Programme
You can download the entire program in pdf format here.
Monday, September 29
09:00-10:00 Registration, Coffee & Networking (Sigyn Restaurant & Lounge)
10:00-10:30 Welcoming Words & Circus Performances (Sigyn Hall)
- Circus Performances by Turku Arts Academy students:
- Groovin’ in the Air, Isabella Hännikkälä and Ella Laitinen
- My Inner Circle, Jaska Isola
- Welcoming Words: Taru Koivisto, director, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland
- Welcoming Words: Anna-Mari Rosenlöf, Senior Advisor, Turku UAS Arts Academy and Taikusydän Arts & Health Coordination Centre in Finland
Hosted by actor Kristina Vahvaselkä
10:30-11:15 Keynote: “Good Arts, Good Mental Health®”, Prof. Christina Davies, Director of the Centre for Arts, Mental Health and Wellbeing, University of Western Australia. (Sigyn Hall)
11:15-12:00 Introduction to CultureAndHealth Platform (Sigyn Hall)
12:00-13:00 Lunch at Sigyn Restaurant (self-funded)
13:00-14:15 Parallel Sessions I:
- Bringing Culture and Health Policies Together: Sharing insights from the EU Member States Culture and Health OMC-report (Sigyn Hall)
- Kornelia Kiss, Head of Culture and Health, Culture Action Europe
- Edith Wolf Perez, Founder & Chairwoman, Co-Founder of ARTS for HEALTH AUSTRIA, Co-Chair, EU Member States’, “Culture and Health” Open Method of Coordination (OMC) Group
- Bruno Gallice, OMC Culture and Health delegate, Cultural and Territorial Action Advisor, DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – French Ministry of Culture, France
- Broula Barnohro Oussi, Strategist, Region Stockholms Kompetenscentrum för kultur och hälsa, Sweden
- Laura Norppa, Ministry of Education and Culture, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Cultural Affairs, Finland.
- Workshop A: Play and Creativity in Dance (Vulcan Hall)
- Riina Kalmi, dance artist, Finland
- Workshop B: Person-centered Music-making on Hospital Wards (Studio Theatre)
- MusiCare-Team: Stefan Heckel, Laura Bezold, Austria
- Showcasing Artist Practices A: (Rope Theatre)
- Creating and Experiencing Art in an End-of-life Unit, Paul Peinture, painter, France
- Vanishing Dad. A Project Carried out with Prisoners, Kuba Kapral, Poland
- Dance Ambassadors®, Regional Dance Centre of Western Finland, Sanna Meska, managing director, Finland
14:15-14:45 Coffee Break & Posters & Stands (Sigyn Restaurant & Lounge)
14:45-16:00 Parallel Sessions II:
- Panel Discussion: Youth Mental Health and the Arts (Sigyn Hall)
- Christina Davies, Professor, Centre for Arts, Mental Health and Wellbeing WA, University of Western Australia
- Katy Geersten, Dance artist and Pedagogue, Arts for Health Austria
- Satu Haapalainen, Senior Lecturer, Pediatric nurse, Health and Well-being, Turku University of Applied Sciences
- Maru Hietala, Artivist, Artworker, Children and Youth Foundation
- Elina Rantanen, Deputy Mayor of Turku for Children and Youth.
- Moderator Anna Jussilainen, Senior Lecturer in Creative Well-being, Turku University of Applied Sciences.
- Showcasing Artist Practices B: (Rope Theatre)
- Hyde and Sick: Imagining New Walls in Psychiatric Care, Giovanni Bosco Iafrate, visual artist, Italy
- Participatory Kantele Concert, Marjo Smolander, musician, music pedagogue (MA), Finland
- Community Cares, Ioana Turcan, artist and cultural worker, Romania
- Workshop C: Songs from the Inside: Co-Creative Songwriting in Healthcare (Vulcan Hall)
- Saaramaija Żórawski, music pedagogue (MA), musician
- Workshop D: Person-centered Music-making on Hospital Wards (Studio Theatre)
- MusiCare-Team: Stefan Heckel, Laura Bezold, Austria
18:00 onward Evening Programme
- Dinner, mingle and live music at Panimoravintola Koulu, Eerikinkatu 18, provided by Turku Arts Academy (separate registration).
Please note, that the programme is final, but it remains subject to possible changes.
Tuesday, September 30
09:00-10:15 Parallel Sessions III
- Research Presentations: Session: Enacting health through theatre and drama (Rope Theatre)
- Riku Laakkonen & Jenny Paananen, Tampere University: “Empathy in Action: Drama Workshop as a Safe Place to Practice Challenging Encounters in Nursing Home”
- Eva Hallgren, Stockholm University: “Creating Together in Existential Fragility: Drama/Theatre Participation in Early Psychosis Care”
- Jenny Wiik, Novia University of Applied Sciences & Tove Hagström, Yttra Tove Hagström: “The Song of the Tree – From Play to Activating Classroom Workshop for Teenagers”
- Showcasing Artist Practices C: (Sigyn Hall)
- Sound Hug – creating a musical artwork tailored for tinnitus patients, Boštjan Simon, musician, Slovenia
- Healing Walls: Art as Therapy in Institutional Spaces, Melinda Šefčić, Ph.D., Visual Artist and Researcher, Assistant Professor (external), Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb, Croatia
- Spectators of Well-being: From Observation to Participation Through Performance, Veronica Lista, theatrical educator, Italy
- Workshop E: “Expressing One’s True Self through Text, Film and Voice.” Co-creative Artistic Documentary Film with and for children with serious medical conditions (Studio Theatre)
- Lisa Partby, documentary filmmaker and pedagogue, Sweden
- Workshop F: Cut, Fold, Mad!: DIY zines making workshop (Sigyn Café Balcony)
- Shambhavi Singh, University of Helsinki
- Workshop G: Humour in Healthcare (Vulcan Hall)
- Maria Gundolf, RED NOSES Germany
10:15-10:45 Coffee break & Posters & Stands
10:45-12:00 Parallel Sessions IV
- Research Presentations; Session: Links between creativity and wellbeing (Sigyn Hall)
- Viktorija Bogdanova & Inkeri Aula & Masood Masoodian, Aalto University: “The creative journey as a transformative process affecting well-being”
- Sofia Elena Sacchini, Associazione Oltre… APS, Italy: Beyond Participation: Artivism, Prevention, and the Right to Collective Well-being
- Ivana Slipakoff, Culture en Vena, Integrating the Arts into Public Health
- European collaboration (Rope Theatre)
- AWAKE: Arts & Wellbeing as a Creative Business and Future Livelihood, Dace Resele, Acting Head of the NDPC Secretariat, Latvia
- CARE: Culture for Mental Health, Claudia Cacovean, Project Manager, Cluj Cultural Centre, Romania
- Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region, Liisa Laitinen, Advisor, Arts & Health, Turku University of Applied Sciences, Finland
- Workshop H: Art in Sensory Rooms as Part of Psychiatric Care: Introducing a Collaborative Journey of Artists, Experts by Experience and the Hospital Clinical Staff in an Artist-led Project at TYKS Compass Hospital (Vulcan)
- Nina Rantala, visual artist engaging interactive and communal processes, Finland
12:00-13:00 Lunch at Sigyn (self-funded)
13:00-14:15 Parallel Sessions V
- Research Presentations: Session: Arts and mental health in community practices (Sigyn Hall)
- Marit Stranden, Norwegian Resource Center for Arts and Health: “In Motion – developing a guide that use dance artists’ embodied experience to make movements accessible and safe”
- Keld Stehr Nielsen, National Centre for Arts & Mental Health – Denmark: “What can the grey literature tell us about the relation between art and mental health – and how to extract it”
- Kai Lehikoinen, Research Institute, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland: “Socially Engaged Art as a Subject of Study”
- Showcasing Artist Practices D: (Rope Theatre)
- THE NEEDS OF NEETS – Collaborative Working Beyond the “Safe Space”, Darrel Toulon, prime investigator & artistic director & Jonatan Salgado Romero, videographer, filmmaker, Austria
- Block Theatre – About the universal language of wooden blocks, Roosa Halme, puppet theatre artist, Finland
- Meeting people with circus on your eyes, Lida Kuusisto, circus artist, Finland
- Workshop I: TOSI-labra – An Arts-Based Method for Supporting Youth Wellbeing and Agency (Studio Theatre)
- Pilvi Kuitu & Katriina Nylund, Cultural Centre PiiPoo & Tampere University, Finland
14:15-14:45 Coffee break & Posters & Stands
14:45-16:00 Reflective Panel Discussion & Closing, Circus Performances (Sigyn Hall)
- Circus Performances by Turku Arts Academy students:
- Silky Smooth, Viktoriia Adamova
- United, Isabella Hännikkälä, Ella Laitinen, Jaska Isola and Viktoriia Adamova
- Reflective Panel Discussion
- Anna Formosa, Applied Drama Practitioner, Malta
- Pirita Juppi, PhD, Principal Lecturer, Leader of Degree Programmes in Culture and Arts, Turku UAS’ Arts Academy
- Kai Lehikoinen, University Researcher, Research Institute, University of the Arts Helsinki
- Moderator: Natalie Giorgadze, General Director, Culture Action Europe
Please note, that the programme is final, but it remains subject to possible changes.
Venue
The Culture and Health Forum will take place in the buildings of Turku Arts Academy and Turku Conservatory, located at Linnankatu 60, Turku (link to Google Maps). The main venue is Sigyn Hall (Sigyn-Sali).
There is limited parking available near the event venue, mostly along the streets. The venue is easily accessible by Föli buses (link to timetables and routes), line number 1 (bus stop: Veistämöntori or location Sigyn-Sali, Linnankatu 60, Turku)
You can purchase single bus tickets with contactless payment in the bus, from the Föli mobile app and from buses with cash. Price of a single ticket is 3,15 € (purchased via the App), with cash payment in the bus 4,50 €.
All the common sessions of the Forum will take place in the Sigyn Hall (Sigyn-Sali), but the parallel sessions are located at four different venues: Köysiteatteri (Rope Theatre), Studioteatteri (Studio Theatre), Vulcan-Sali (Vulcan Hall) and Sigyn Café/Restaurant Balcony.
Community Etiquette & Trigger Warnings
In our university of applied sciences, we follow freedom of science, research, and art. We can address all societal themes and phenomena in our activities. We follow the principles of community etiquette in all interactions within the community in our spaces, events, and activities, whether physically, socially, or online.
Get to know Turku UAS’ Community Etiquette that we follow in the Culture and Health Forum.
The Culture and Health Forum addresses diverse and sometimes challenging topics. Presenters will provide content warnings before potentially distressing material. Please feel empowered to take care of your well-being by stepping out if needed.
Travel to Turku
There are several ways to get to Turku, and we recommend that you travel to Turku on Sunday or early Monday morning (e.g. by ferry from Stockholm). If you wish to look for travelling options with an address, it is Linnankatu 54-60, 20100 Turku, Finland.
For detailed information how to travel and get around in Turku, we recommend reading more from Visit Turku: Travelling to & around Turku.
If you arrive at Turku Airport, you can conveniently take bus No. 1 which stops right in front of the Arts Academy. The bus service runs regularly between the harbor and city center – you can check the schedules at www.foli.fi/en.
Coming from either the Turku Main Railway Station or Harbor Station? No worries – both stations are just a pleasant walk away from the Arts Academy. Remember to book your train to the station Turku – City Center Logomo.
And if you’re arriving by ferry at the Viking Line or Silja Line terminals, you can hop on the same convenient bus No. 1 that will take you straight to the Arts Academy and city center.
Accommodation options
When looking for suitable accommodation for your stay, you can use the address of Arts Academy (Linnankatu 54-60, 20100 Turku ) as a reference. There are several hotels and hostels you can book your room, for example: Scandic Hotels, Radisson Blu Marina Palace Hotel, Centro hotel, Hotel Kakola, Bob W Turku City Centre and Hostel S/S Bore.
The CultureAndHealth Platform
The Culture and Health Forum is part of the Culture and Health Platform project (2024-2028).
The Culture and Health Platform project (2024-2028) aims to support European emerging artists who already have some experience working in the arts & health field and who want to develop their work further and join European cooperation. The project is coordinated by Culture Action Europe and involves 16 partners from across Europe. Taikusydän and Turku University of Applied Sciences represent Finland in the project.
The CultureAndHealth Platform is co-funded by the European Union (grant nr: 101176227). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EACEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
