This document summarizes a study investigating the impacts of culture-led regeneration efforts in three coastal towns through measuring social capital, health, and wellbeing. The study used a mixed-methods participatory action research design including questionnaires, mind maps, interviews, and focus groups to understand how cultural engagement affects social capital and health outcomes. Key findings included that cultural activity can positively impact social capital and health/wellbeing, and that active cultural experiences may have more impact than passive experiences. However, organizations struggle to clearly define and measure culture's impacts. The study aims to help cultural organizations and health sectors better understand these relationships and integrate culture into approaches for improving public health.

1. Cultural Value and Social Capital
Investigating social capital, health and wellbeing
impacts in three coastal towns undergoing
culture-led regeneration
Trish Vella-Burrows, Nick Ewbank, Stephanie Mills, Matt Shipton, Stephen Clift and Fred Gray.

2. Margate, Bexhill and Folkestone
Stewart Drew and Sally Ann Lycett
Victoria Pomery and Karen Eslea Alastair Upton

3. Reflective individuals?
Engaged citizens?
Urban regeneration ?
Community dynamics?
Improvements to
health and wellbeing?
What have the arts ever
done for us?

4. What we know?
Cultural
activity
Social
capital
Wellbeing
Resilience
Healthy
citizens
Civic pride
Healthy
communities
Economic
vibrancy

5. Health and wellbeing
‘Health is created and lived by people within the
settings of their everyday life; where they learn,
work, play and live’.
WHO ‘Health for All’ (1981)

6. Research questions
What can we measure of culture’s impact on people’s health
and wellbeing in three coastal towns undergoing culture-led
regeneration?
Can social capital theory and social network analysis help to
provide evidence of the impact of the three cultural
organisations on the health and wellbeing of their respective
communities?
What can the Sidney De Haan Research Centre and the three
cultural organisations learn from each other’s evaluation and
research approaches?

7. A mixed-method, participatory action
research design:
Design Council’s Double Diamond DOTT
(Designs of the Time) process model
Questionnaires
Mind maps
Vox pops
Interviews
Focus group discussions

8. Findings
• Cultural engagement impacts positively on social capital
and health and wellbeing
• Should social capital theory feed into practice as a primary
influence on programming?
• Why centralise health and wellbeing as a driver for cultural
offer if positive affect is implicit anyway?
• Active experiences win over receptive experiences – or do
they?
• Cultural engagement has no relationship to health and
wellbeing models – or does it?
• Attendance is dependant on macro, meso and micro
phenomenon
• Funders drive evaluation; business model determines
economic-centred outputs

9. Hidden value?
“I don’t think arts and cultural organisations are able
to define the impact they are able to make.
They don’t trace it and make it visible. It drives me
mad! They change somebody’s life and they don’t even
realise!”
(Des Crilley, Chair, Kent County Council
Strategic Group for Arts in Kent)

10. Thank you for listening
Link to report:
http://www.nickewbank.co.uk/downloads/Cultural-value-report.pdf

11. Cultural industry’s perspective
Museums of Prescription
‘The arts and cultural activities
can have a positive impact on the
symptoms of conditions, for
example improved cognition,
physical stability, or self-esteem,
and the ability of people to
manage them, for example
through changes in behaviour and
increased social contact’ (ACE, 2014)

12. ‘Action on the social
determinants of health
should be a core part of
health professionals’
business, as it improves
clinical outcomes, and saves
money and time in the
longer term’ (Marmot 2013)
Public/primary health perspective

13. Music and Arts for Dementia (MAPS4Dementia) Integrated Dementia Care Pathways, Kent &
Medway Public Health Observatory
Scenarios Intervention goal Specialist music activity/intervention
Step one: Pre-help seeking
stage
Dementia awareness;
early identification
Public music-related dementia awareness programmes in partnership with multiple agencies
Supported befrienders to enable people to continue to engage in existing music activities
Step two: Professional
advice sought/not sought
Assessment and
diagnosis
Music-based assessment tool to include standard domains (language, visuospatial, fluency,
memory attention) and an individual’s sense of desire, hope, belief and knowing over time
Music-based assessment tool to assess carer health
Step three: Assessment Early intervention;
treatment, including
drugs memory
services and cognitive
stimulation therapy
(CST)
Specialist music-centred interventions that reflect CST outcome goals delivered in
community settings with community integration.
‘Music for Dementia’ peer advocacy groups
Information for dementia care health professionals on the research evidence and local
music services
Step four: Help
accepted/not accepted
Living well with
dementia; person with
dementia and carer
has access to a range
of person-centred
integrated care
services
Access to on-going, innovative, quality controlled music-based activities and interventions
that:
 are driven by research evidence and feedback from participants
 are nationally delivered in community settings
 have local intergenerational, community input
 address the physical, mental and social needs of carers and people with dementia as
their condition changes
Step five: Deterioration;
carer-burden; service
response
Step six : Potential
alternative living
arrangements;
anxiety/depression
Step seven: Intensive care
needed; complex physical,
mental and social needs
Step eight: End of Life Equitable access to
end of life care
Access to specialist therapeutic music interventions and music therapy

14. Person
Culture
Activities Meaning Well/ill-
being
Adapted from Sixsmith, A and Gibson, (2007) Music & the wellbeing of people with dementia. Ageing & Society 27:127-45
Social networks
Formal support
networks
Physical
environment
Model of well-being through activity