About Cultural Prescribing

Have you ever heard of cultural prescribing?

When you hear the word “prescription”, you might think of medicine prescribed by a doctor. But there are other kinds of prescriptions that can support our emotional wellbeing and our connections with others. Cultural prescribing is one such approach, drawing on the power of arts and culture.

What Is Cultural Prescribing?

Cultural prescribing is an approach that supports health and wellbeing by creating opportunities for people to encounter and engage with the arts, creative activities, cultural institutions and places of cultural significance. It aims to create an environment in which everyone can engage with culture and live healthy, fulfilling lives. Through the active participation of citizens and local communities, it seeks to connect people with local cultural resources, nurture new activities and relationships, and enable individuals to choose how they wish to engage with culture according to their own interests and wishes. Collaboration with healthcare and social care is one important way of supporting these efforts at a local level.

This short video introduces the idea of cultural prescribing in just over two minutes.

This approach is also connected to cultural policy in Japan. The Basic Act on Culture and the Arts, amended in 2017, recognises the creation and enjoyment of culture and the arts as an inherent right of all people¹. Encountering and engaging with culture should not be a privilege reserved for a few, but an opportunity open to everyone. Cultural prescribing is also a way of putting this right into practice in people’s everyday lives.

Engaging with arts and culture can bring a rich variety of experiences into our lives. We may be moved by something beautiful, surprised by an unexpected discovery, or completely absorbed in making something. A work of art might help us recognise our own feelings or bring back a forgotten memory. We might feel a spark of excitement or curiosity, or simply find ourselves wanting to try something new. Such moments invite us to explore our own senses and imagination. They are enriching experiences in their own right, but they can also become a form of “prescription” that supports our health and wellbeing. Research into the relationship between arts, culture and health has grown in recent years. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe published a report drawing on more than 3,000 studies, highlighting the potential role of the arts in promoting health and in preventing and treating illness².

Diet, sleep and exercise have long been recognised as important foundations of good health. More recently, research has shown that our connections with other people and society also play a vital role. Unwanted loneliness and social isolation can affect both physical and mental health and have been associated with an increased risk of mortality³. Connections are also central to cultural prescribing. By helping people discover and nurture new connections and a sense of belonging through culture, cultural prescribing also seeks to contribute to the prevention and reduction of unwanted loneliness and social isolation. Yet these connections are not limited to relationships with other people. Through arts and culture, we can reconnect with our own feelings and memories, gaining a deeper understanding of ourselves. Works of art and culturally significant places can also introduce us to local histories and the experiences of people who lived in different times and places. Arts and culture have the power to nurture our connections with ourselves, with others, and with the society and wider world in which we live.

Arts and culture have always been rooted in people’s everyday lives and communities. Through singing, dancing, painting, making things and passing on stories, people have shared their joys and sorrows, hopes and memories. Far from simply enriching everyday life, arts and culture have been fundamental ways in which people make sense of the world, form relationships and live together. Looking back over this long human history, we can see that the relationship between arts, culture, health and wellbeing is far from new. Cultural prescribing can be understood as an attempt to rediscover the power of culture that has always been part of human life and bring it into our lives and communities today.

Supporting People to Connect with Culture

Cultural prescribing is also about supporting and expanding opportunities for cultural engagement through the participation of citizens and local communities, so that encounters with culture are not limited to individual experiences. Citizens are not simply participants in cultural activities. They can also draw on their own interests and experiences to work with others, creating new activities and nurturing relationships. One of the defining features of cultural prescribing is that people can choose how they engage with culture according to their own interests and wishes, rather than simply following someone else’s recommendations. For example, someone might visit an art museum when they feel the need for a change of scene, or join a local cultural activity when they want to enjoy doing something with others. Discovering what feels right, what sparks our curiosity and what moves us, and making our own choices, can itself be a way of caring for ourselves.

However, even when people would like to engage with culture, they may not know where to begin or may find it difficult to take part on their own. One way of helping people discover opportunities to connect with culture is through a “cultural link worker”, someone who helps make these connections possible. Cultural link workers listen to what matters to each person, what they enjoy and what they have experienced in the past, helping them find cultural activities that are meaningful to them. Imagine someone saying, “I haven’t been feeling very well lately, so I don’t go out much anymore. But I remember how much I enjoyed visiting art museums.” A cultural link worker might suggest, “Would you like to try a programme where you can look at art and chat with other people at a museum?” Taking part might help that person rediscover the pleasure of looking at art, enjoy conversations with others, or feel inspired to go out again. There are many other possibilities beyond museums, from enjoying music with people in the local community to making new friends through creative activities.

What cultural prescribing values is the opportunity for everyone to engage with culture as a member of their community, guided by their own interests, rather than being defined by their health conditions or need for support. Encounters and connections through culture can also help nurture relationships of mutual care and support, moving beyond fixed distinctions between those who provide support and those who receive it.

What matters is not simply recommending activities or encouraging people to participate. It is about respecting each person’s interests and wishes, and supporting them in finding experiences that are meaningful to them. At the same time, being free to choose does not necessarily mean that everyone has a genuine opportunity to connect with culture. Financial circumstances, difficulties with travel, limited access to information, and physical or psychological barriers within cultural institutions and programmes can all restrict people’s choices. This is why cultural institutions and local communities need to work together to create environments in which everyone can feel welcome, participate with confidence and continue to engage over time. Cultural prescribing is not only about connecting people with culture. It is also about nurturing local systems and relationships through the active involvement of citizens and communities, enabling everyone to engage with culture on their own terms.

Japan has many cultural institutions, including art museums and other museums, which care for a wide range of collections, from works of art and historical materials to natural history specimens. Looking at these collections through the lens of cultural prescribing reveals new possibilities. A single artwork might bring back someone’s memories, while an object connected to local history might spark conversations between people. Encountering the expressions of people who lived in different times and places may even change how we see the world. Museum collections are not only objects to be preserved and appreciated. They can also offer opportunities for people to reflect on their relationships with themselves, with others and with society.

Until now, there have been relatively few opportunities to consider local cultural resources from the perspective of health and wellbeing. But by creating environments in which everyone can actively engage with culture, and developing these possibilities together with people across local communities, art museums, other museums and cultural institutions can further expand their role as familiar and accessible forms of social infrastructure that support people’s everyday lives.

The Future of Cultural Prescribing

Today, we live surrounded by people and information. Even so, there may be moments when we feel lonely or uncertain about where we belong. At such times, stepping away from our everyday routines to listen to music we love, encounter a work of art that moves us, or make something together with others can help us reconnect with ourselves and the world around us. Engaging with culture is, in itself, a fundamental part of human life. These experiences also have the potential to support our physical and mental wellbeing, nurture relationships with others, and create new connections within society.

By working together with citizens and local communities to nurture museums and the diverse cultural activities rooted in our communities as shared resources that support everyday life, we can help create a society in which everyone has the opportunity to live in a way that is meaningful to them, with creativity and wellbeing at its heart.