Arts and Well-being
In all its conversations, the European Festivals Association (EFA) puts artistic dialogue and the place of festivals and the arts in society forward. In the past years, this has included the festivals’ potential to nurture care within their teams, in their relationships with artists, among their audiences, and in the wider communities they serve.
Arts, festivals, and cultural activities have proved to be essential for building healthier societies and promoting well-being. The CultureForHealth report reviewed 310 studies and confirmed the positive impact of culture on both individual and community health, aligning with similar findings from the World Health Organisation (WHO). Cultural activities can work alongside traditional medical care to enhance emotional well-being, strengthen social bonds, and support healthier communities. The festivals’ community contributes to this task and has expressed a desire to better integrate well-being into what festivals do and their ways of working and in this way improve living and working conditions and well-being of artists, festival makers and their teams.
CARE - Culture for Mental Health
In the framework of the Creative Europe-supported project CARE – Culture for Mental Health (2024-2027) carried out by an international consortium led by the Cluj Cultural Centre and joined by seven partners across Europe, EFA has the chance to delve deeper into the topic of arts and well-being.
The CARE project aims to harness the potential of arts and cultural experiences to improve mental health and well-being for youth, working-age individuals, and people with disabilities. By bringing together stakeholders from culture, health, education, and business, the initiative develops innovative strategies that provide both personal and systemic solutions. These efforts focus on enhancing access to and participation in cultural activities across Europe, addressing the pressing challenge of mental health, which affects over 85 million EU citizens.
The Time We Spend Together
'The Time We Spend Together' began in 2023 with a pilot retreat hosted by the Varna Summer International Music Festival, creating space for festival makers to reflect on care, well-being and community within the festival sector. The initiative has since continued to grow, with the 2026 retreat and forum in Gozo, Malta, bringing together artists, festival makers, cultural professionals and policy makers to explore the role of festivals and culture in shaping public life, communities and Europe's future. Read the latest report, or revisit reflections from the inaugural retreat in Varna.