There is a growing evidence that the arts can support health and wellbeing in a number of ways including aiding our recovery following illness, reducing isolation, improving mental health and helping us to manage long-term conditions (All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing, 2017). For these reasons the arts has also been championed as a mechanism for reducing the effects of social disadvantage and reducing health inequalities.

In 2020 the Arts Council for Wales and the NHS Wales Confederation renewed a Memorandum of Understanding   to embed the arts in the NHS and transform services. Within health and social care sector in Wales there are a number of arts and health initiatives:

• Arts in the healthcare environment: this is the inclusion of the arts within the physical environment of healthcare settings such as pictures, healing gardens and access to natural light
• Participatory arts programmes: these are individual or group arts activities in community locations and health and social care settings which aim to improve and maintain health and wellbeing
• Arts on prescription: this is part of social prescribing and involves people experiencing mental or physical health issues being referred (or self-referring) to engage with the arts in community settings such museums or libraries.
• Arts co-ordinators: This refers to a range of arts activities including drama, music and the visual arts being offered by practitioners working in clinical settings.
• Medical training and medical humanities: this refers to inclusion of the arts in the initial and continuing development of health and social care professionals.

For practitioners working in the arts and health the Wales Art, Health and Wellbeing Network was established in 2013 to share practice and connect with each other.