QUALITY! Strengthening quality and evaluation competences in cultural well-being services

Developing the skills and competencies of arts and health professionals

Duration of the project

1.2.2026 – 31.7.2028

Source of funding

European Union, European Social Fund ESF+

Total funding

583 246 €

QUALITY! Strengthening the Quality and Evaluation of Arts and Health Services is a project that develops the competencies of cultural sector actors and professionals delivering arts and health services. The project produces new solutions for managing and evaluating the quality of these services.

The QUALITY! project responds to the cultural sector’s need to develop the quality of services and to strengthen skills related to measurement and evaluation. The project brings together actors across the cultural field and collaboratively develops tools for justifying the need for services and the resources required, as well as for making the impacts and benefits of cultural activities more visible. The project is also grounded in the societal need – identified in numerous studies, policy programmes and strategies – to make broader use of art, culture and creative activities in promoting wellbeing and public health.

The project is conducted in collaboration with Kulttuurikeskus PiiPoo, the Taikusydän Arts and Health Coordination Centre at Turku University of Applied Sciences, and the Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa. It is aimed at cultural organisations and professionals who deliver or develop arts and health services and other cultural services that support well-being. The project also supports the work of social and health professionals, municipal professionals, managers, policy makers, and organisations commissioning or arranging arts and health services across Finland.

The QUALITY! project:

• Supports production expertise and professional practices in the cultural sector.
• Improves access to tools for quality management and measurement.
• Strengthens the knowledge base and employment related to arts and health.
• Further develops the quality criteria for arts and health services.
• Produces a national digital tool for quality management as well as a measurement and evaluation tool for arts and health services.
• Trains cultural sector professionals to become skilled in quality management and evaluation, and to use the quality and evaluation tools developed in the project.
• Tests and refines these tools together with the professionals who deliver arts and health services.
• Produces materials for developing and evaluating the quality of arts and health services, measuring their impacts, and communicating about them.

The QUALITY! project takes production and procurement expertise in the arts and health field to a new level. It strengthens the visibility and recognition of the field – both as part of the cultural sector and as a promoter of wellbeing and public health.

The project is co funded by the European Union (ESF+).

Read more (in Finnish)