Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Relieving stress through art and culture: how do you do that? That art and culture have a healing effect has been known for some time. What is less well known is that it doesn’t always have to involve highbrow art: Dutch folk songs or a Hollywood movie can just as easily promote health.
The Medical Delta Program ‘Health promotion with arts and culture’ investigates which artistic interventions are effective, providing the necessary foundation to scale up successful projects. Prof. Dr. Janine Stubbe is a 'endowed professor at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC), holding the chair in Arts and Wellbeing. At the same time, she is a professor of Arts & Wellbeing at art college Codarts Rotterdam. As a core team member of the Medical Delta Program ‘Health promotion with arts and culture’, she connects practice with science.
"It really isn’t difficult to implement art interventions on a larger scale, but it does need to become more widely known that they actually work. I see an important mission in that for the Medical Delta program."
This interview is the second in a series with practice partners from the transdisciplinary Medical Delta programs and living labs.
Can you briefly tell us about the goals of the Medical Delta Program “Health Promotion with Arts and Culture”?
“We want to improve the physical and mental health of Dutch citizens through the use of arts and culture, starting in Rotterdam and the province of Zuid-Holland. We do this in various ways with broad artistic interventions. For now, the focus is on music, because we already have a strong track record in that area with Erasmus University, but we plan to expand to include dance, circus, visual arts… really anything that works for the target group.”
How do arts and culture contribute to good health?
The World Health Organization conducted a literature study in 2019, including more than 3,500 scientific publications, which showed that art and culture are beneficial for people's well-being and thereby also promote their health. Whether you practice art yourself or sit in a theater seat: it is scientifically proven that this is good for you.
Art has no side effects, it only makes you better.Research by Medical Delta partners also confirms this. In a project like ‘Music as Medicine’ at Erasmus MC, for example, we see that music can help calm people during or prior to a medical procedure and can help reduce pain. This is better for the patient, who experiences fewer side effects, and it also saves costs because less medication needs to be administered.
Furthermore, it has been demonstrated to be cost-effective. Investing in art and culture yields health benefits for society as a whole. Interventions not only work, they also generate financial returns. The investments are many times lower than the financial gains. People require less medication, fewer treatments. But it also has a positive preventive effect.
And the beautiful thing is: art has no side effects, it only makes you better. There are few medicines and treatments that have as many positive outcomes as art and culture.”
The program especially aims to focus on people who have less frequent contact with art and culture. How do you reach them?
“Among other things, by going to people, so entering the neighborhood. Or by making them part of a project, for example by giving people who never go to the theater a role in a play. Asking people to help set up a performance on location, or to contribute ideas for a storyline. This way, you involve people who in turn bring along friends and family and invite them to come to the performance. And suddenly, a theater hall is filled with a completely different audience. These are great examples of how we can work more inclusively within the art and culture sector.
You can also look at what resonates with people. Not so long ago, it was always assumed that classical music had healing properties, but now we know this is very personal and that preferred music works best. Someone who loves metal or Dutch-language music should play that music to experience the positive effects of music.
Experiencing art can also help people come out of isolation, create a sense of togetherness when, for example, you go to a festival or concert and sing, dance, or enjoy the music together. It really doesn’t matter whether it’s a performance of a work by Brahms or a concert by De Toppers: it varies per person. For example, at Codarts we have a Global Musics department, with specializations such as Caribbean & South American Music and Maqam & Modal Traditions. Within these directions we create new connections in and with the communities.
You do have to be careful about what music you use. Certain music can have an adverse effect; studies have been done on this as well, for example in cases of premature births. Music therapists have completed specialized training to work with vulnerable individuals. They know better than anyone how to offer music safely so that the positive effects remain and negative effects do not occur. But the idea that only classical music has healing powers is long outdated.
At Codarts, more than 1,000 future musicians, dancers, and circus artists study. We have the opportunity to offer all kinds of different art and music styles in projects, for example for elderly people with dementia or dance schools for people with Parkinson’s.”
So initiatives like these are already underway—what need does the Medical Delta program address? What is its added value?
“What you see in the Netherlands is that there are many good initiatives, but they are mostly small and fragmented. The examples I just mentioned are often short-term projects with one-time funding. They may be successful, but then they tend to fade away again, which is really such a shame.
With scientific evidence and substantiation, there is a better chance of long-term funding and reimbursements.Through the Medical Delta program, we have all the important partners in the region on board and stand stronger to apply for, for example, larger-scale European subsidies that allow you to secure successful art interventions for a longer period. You can also much better map out which mechanisms actually make something successful, and which do not, and learn from that. For this, the Medical Delta program offers a wonderful opportunity. With scientific evidence and substantiation, there is a better chance of long-term funding and reimbursements from, for example, health insurers.
The strength of Medical Delta is that you can bring researchers together from very different backgrounds to solve more complex questions in this way. Art and healthcare are very different domains: you need art, psychology, and medicine. Within Medical Delta, this comes together nicely.”
How are the recipients, the audience, involved in the research projects?
“We are in frequent dialogue with what we call the ‘makers,’ the people who implement the art and cultural interventions in practice. They have a lot of contact with their end users, whom we actually never call patients. Take the dance project for people with Parkinson’s. You can call someone a Parkinson’s patient, but the moment they dance, they become one of our dancers. That’s a completely different vocabulary.
The ‘makers’ have excellent connections within their networks, and in this way, projects have often already been started where we say, ‘Would you like to collaborate with us so that we can also study the effects of your intervention?’ This is essential for securing successful projects and building knowledge about health and well-being in relation to art and culture.
How do you ensure that you reach the right people with a specific intervention?
“When it comes to music therapy, but also dance therapy and visual therapy for very vulnerable groups, it is important to deploy well-trained therapists. It’s not just about casually rolling out a creative activity for a target group.
Often, we already have a clear idea of which intervention can make a difference for whom. Many students, for example, tend to focus on themselves and their mobile phones and less on their immediate, physical environment. This causes them to lose connection with themselves and their classmates. Dance is then a wonderful way to restore that connection. Such projects are already running in primary and secondary schools, and we connect with these through research, which in turn can provide the necessary evidence to continue a project.
You can also help lonely elderly people out of their isolation with art and culture. For example, by bringing them together weekly for a choir rehearsal. The social aspect is of great importance.
We can do more with this. The United Kingdom, for example, is ahead of us in this. Music, art forms, and cultural expressions are incorporated there in what they call ‘social prescribing.’ That is quite broad—gardening together also falls under this. It’s about: how can you help people out of social isolation? And art and culture prove to be very effective tools for this.”
What is it like to work together with other disciplines?
“That is incredibly instructive. You do notice that it can be difficult to understand each other’s language, but as long as you work towards a common goal, that can be overcome. It also helps to advance education. The input we receive from medics, psychologists, and therapists is very useful for the future musicians, dancers, and artists we train here at Codarts.”
What does transdisciplinary collaboration bring to this program?
“Because we collaborate with so many different disciplines, new working methods and innovative solutions emerge. This likely leads to new teaching materials and entirely new research methods. That’s the beauty of a Medical Delta program—you can bring all those bright minds together. And you can explore the effects together by involving the direct target groups, such as healthcare professionals, clients, residents, and patients.
When the end user is involved in all phases of the research, the support for the intervention increases.
I have been doing practice-oriented research for more than ten years now. The question from the field is central to this. For example, children who find it terrible that they can no longer connect with a parent who has Alzheimer’s - that then becomes a starting point for research. You develop your interventions based on that and include it in your problem formulations. When the end user is involved in all phases of the research, the support for the intervention increases.
We also want to explore how we can make connections with vocational education (mbo). Often, it is mbo-trained professionals who are hands-on at the bedside, so it is incredibly important to involve them. Just like the higher professional education (hbo) Nursing program.”
Art and culture are not yet widely used for health and prevention. Are we missing opportunities?
“Absolutely! If you look, for example, at the waiting lists in mental healthcare: the people on those waiting lists can be helped with art interventions in the period between registration and treatment. This doesn’t work for everyone, but I am convinced that it will definitely help some people, without costing much. It’s really there for the taking, and it’s frustrating that this is not happening on a larger scale yet. Just like music interventions for people with dementia. With a simple old-fashioned iPod, you can let them experience music from their youth, which has a positive effect on their well-being.
It’s really not difficult to implement such interventions on a larger scale, but it needs to become better known that this works. I also see an important mission for the Medical Delta program in this.
We also want to look at technological innovations. For example, what is the experience like when you virtually visit a museum or concert? How do you make something like that personal? Or: how can you let someone who is deaf still enjoy a concert? We have a European subsidy application running for this.
Ultimately, I hope that the positive impact of art and culture on our health will gain more prominence on the agenda of various ministries, and that art and cultural interventions will also be included in the healthcare package.”
What call to action would you like to make?
“Over the past few months, we have already been able to build a wonderful network, but I am sure there are still many people in the Medical Delta community who can make connections between healthcare and art interventions. There is still a lot of untapped low-hanging fruit. Let’s tackle that together!”
Photo: Guido Benschop
