Creativity and Wellbeing Week 2026: celebrating creative health
This year's Creativity and Wellbeing Week brings together artists, researchers, clinicians and policymakers from across the country to champion the role of creativity in health and wellbeing. With the theme "Critical Hope", this year the festival has partnered with the Big Issue to co-produce a special edition themed around creative health.
Science Gallery London is marking the week with a series of events and exhibitions — read on to find out what's on.
Something Glamorous, Something Awkward - screening and discussion
On Tuesday 19 May (6.30–8pm), the short film Something Glamorous, Something Awkward comes to Science Gallery London for a screening and discussion with artist Mr X and Bethlem Gallery.
The 25-minute film tells the story of Mr X, who has spent much of his life in state care and builds extraordinary structures from found objects, space vehicles that carry him across society's boundaries as he prepares to leave hospital. The screening will be followed by a Q&A chaired by Sophie Leighton, Director of Bethlem Gallery, with filmmaker Leanne producer Lucy Owen and artist Josip Lizatovic.
Celebrating Creative Health: in honour of the Rt Hon. Lord Howarth of Newport CBE
On Wednesday 20 May, Celebrating Creative Health comes to Science Gallery London, held in honour of the Rt Hon. Lord Howarth of Newport CBE, founding Chair of both the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing and the National Centre for Creative Health, and one of the most significant figures in shaping the creative health agenda in the UK.
The event will feature a keynote from Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey OBE, followed by an 'in conversation' with philanthropist and founder of National Poetry Day William Sieghart CBE. A panel discussion chaired by Professor Sir Simon Wessely CBE will bring together Dr Guddi Singh, Dr Phil Hammond and Dr Simon Opher MP to consider a question at the heart of the creative health agenda:
Should creativity be promoted as a health behaviour, and if so, how can we best encourage the public to engage?
The event will be introduced by Professor Martin Marshall CBE, the Chair of the National Centre for Creative Health, Chair of the Nuffield Trust and Emeritus Professor of Healthcare Improvement at UCL.
Crochet for Change
Also on Wednesday 20 May (2–5pm), join Dr Gemma McKenzie and artist Elena Lo Presti for a hands-on crochet workshop inspired by the current exhibition Threads of Protest. Building on the historic use of thread as a form of protest in women's art, participants will crochet granny squares while exploring themes of community, collective storytelling and social change. No prior experience is needed and all materials are provided. Drop in or book online.
On now: exhibitions exploring health, creativity and lived experience
Running throughout May and into the summer, Science Gallery London's current programme explores healthcare, equality and social justice through the lens of art and lived experience, themes at the heart of the creative health movement.
Threads of Protest (until 1 August) combines textile works, personal testimonies and academic research to explore inequality in maternity care and advocate for better birth experiences, drawing on Dr Gemma McKenzie's research into human rights in childbirth.
Born from the Heart, Photos from the Soul (until 20 May) shares photographs and words created by mothers using Photovoice, a participatory approach combining photography and storytelling, to look beyond clinical encounters and consider the wider experiences shaping maternity journeys.
A Thread That Binds Us (until 31 July) presents two new tapestry-based works by Amber Roper, commissioned by Bethlem Gallery, created in response to research workshops exploring intergenerational mental health and parents' beliefs and concerns about mental wellbeing in families. Visitors are invited to add their own threads and become part of an evolving work.
All exhibitions are free and open Monday–Saturday, 11am–6pm. No booking required.
For more information about Creativity and Wellbeing Week, visit creativityandwellbeing.org.uk.