Create Conversations: creativity and Wellbeing

There is an overwhelming amount of evidence showing far-reaching health and wellbeing benefits of creativity for people at all stages of their lives. But access to the creative arts is unevenly distributed, and it is often marginalised people who are excluded. We’re hosting this online event during Creativity and Wellbeing Week to explore this issue in more detail. This conversation will take a closer look at what makes creative health projects truly effective, and how best to ensure that everyone who needs it has access to the life-enhancing power of the creative arts.

An online panel of four experts with different insights on creativity and wellbeing:

• Prof Ioannis Bakolis, Professor of Public Mental Health and Statistics, KCL
• Dr Jess Bone, Senior Research Fellow, Social Biobehavioural Research Group, UCL
• Nicky Goulder MBE, Founding Chief Executive of Create
• Moderator: Dr Jenny Elliott OBE, Arts, Health and Creative Well-being Consultant

Register for this Create Conversations webinar to find out:

• Why are creativity and the arts essential to health and wellbeing?
• What are the most promising developments and findings relating to wellbeing and the arts?
• How do we raise awareness and put this higher on the agenda in society?
• How can we expand access to the arts to those who truly need it?

Speaker biographies

Prof Ioannis Bakolis

Ioannis Bakolis is a Professor of Public Mental Health and Statistics and founding Deputy Director of the Centre for Mental Health Policy and Evaluation at King’s College London. Prof Bakolis programme of multi-disciplinary research aims to influence public health policy and clinical decision making on how climate and environmental stressors and other forms of social adversity affect population mental and physical health. Ioannis is an international expert on how to best design, evaluate, implement, and scale up population-health interventions and nation-wide policies worldwide with a particular interest on social prescribing interventions. His research has received over £25 million of funding and has been disseminated in over 160 publications to-date.

Dr Jess Bone

Dr Jess Bone is a Senior Research Fellow in Epidemiology and Statistics at University College London. She is part of the Social Biobehavioural Research Group, a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Arts & Health. Her research involves using large population-based studies from the UK, US, and globally to investigate whether community activities, including arts, cultural, and creative activities, can improve health and wellbeing. She is particularly interested in using these activities to prevent mental health problems among young people. Jess also works on strategies to increase participation in community activities, including identifying inequalities in access and evaluating social prescribing.

Nicky Goulder MBE

Nicky Goulder MBE is Founding CEO of Create, a multi-award-winning charity that uses the creative arts to empower lives and enhance wellbeing. Nicky has previously been Chief Executive of the Orchestra of St John’s, and Marketing Executive at KPMG. Nicky was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List 2025 in recognition of “services to Disadvantaged People and to Charity” including her tireless work to expand access to the creative arts for the most vulnerable people in our society. Nicky is motivated by her longing for a fair, caring, inclusive, sustainable society in which every individual can fulfil their potential.

Dr Jenny Elliott OBE

Dr Jenny Elliott OBE is an Arts, Health and Creative Well-being Consultant, Choreographer and Director/ Founder of the Dr Jenny Elliott International Arts & Health Collective (based in Northern Ireland). Jenny has over 35 years-experience working locally and internationally in the Arts, Health and Education sector developing, delivering and consulting on sustainable Arts & Health Programmes across multiple Health, Social and Community Care Services, Education and Agencies. As the former CEO/Artistic Director of Arts Care NI (2011-2021), Jenny led on the development of the first dedicated Arts Care Arts and Health Centre for Excellence & Best Practice in Northern Ireland. Jenny is a member of the UK National Centre for Creative Health Advisory Group. In 2023 she was awarded an OBE for her Services to the Arts in Northern Ireland.