Culture, heritage and creative industries for health and well-being

Europe’s rich cultural heritage and strong creative industries not only reflect our past but also shape our future. It is by building on this foundation and developing our strengths that we can face the great challenges of our time with confidence and shape a desirable common future. Europe's cultural heritage originates from the interaction between people and places through time and is constantly evolving^[1]. Every citizen has a right to engage with the cultural heritage of their choice, while respecting the rights and freedoms of others, as an aspect of the right to participate freely in cultural life^[2].

Europe’s diverse tangible and intangible cultural heritage and dynamic cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are strategic assets. They enrich our lives, foster social cohesion and societal resilience, and contribute to a sense of belonging. They underpin a growing economy that generates more employment than the automotive industry and a similar trade balance as food, drinks and tobacco combined. Many of Europe’s multinational companies build their international success on European heritage and creativity. At the same time, the sector is nurturing large numbers of dynamic small, medium (SMEs) and micro enterprises, creating employment not the least for young people, while deploying their creativity not only to generate income but also to contribute to social and cultural sustainability, wellbeing and to projecting European values at home and abroad. The cultural and creative industries are engines of innovation not only in themselves, but across the entire economy, thus contributing strongly to Europe’s overall competitiveness and future prosperity.

This destination adopts a people-centred perspective and places cultural heritage and the cultural and creative industries at the very heart of the European economy, its competitiveness and sustainability. R&I activities under this destination will be aligned with the main principles and objectives of the Culture Compass for Europe and support objectives such as circular and just fashion and textiles value-chains, social cohesion and resilience through arts, design and cultural practices and creative entrepreneurial ecosystems for regional development. R&I activities under this destination will support and strengthen European cultural heritage and cultural and creative industries essentially along the following lines:

Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness: To secure Europe’s future prosperity and competitiveness, it is necessary to unlock the innovative power of our cultural heritage and CCIs. The CCIs contribute strongly to drive innovation not only in themselves but also in other industries and economic sectors, shape new technologies and can contribute to user-driven innovation, open innovation and cross-sectoral innovation, in addition to their wider societal contributions such as to cultural wealth, social cohesion and resilience.

R&I actions under this area will focus on boosting the innovation-driving role of the CCIs, on creative startups, on the impact of artificial intelligence technologies on creativity and CCIs, while ensuring that new technologies are fairly deployed, along with the contributions of artistic intelligence and soft skills, boosting a circular economy and global partnerships in cultural policies and CCIs, among other things.

Supporting people, strengthening our societies and our social model: Cultural heritage, the arts and the CCIs have a crucial role to play for resilient and socially sustainable societies, shaping and strengthening the values that hold us together and give meaning and a sense of belonging.

R&I actions under this area will focus on boosting the role of culture, the arts and creative industries in contributing to well-being, to the social economy and in general the societal impact of cultural heritage. R&I actions will explore and strengthen the role of culture, heritage and CCIs in shaping the technologies of the future and focus on safeguarding intangible heritage and linguistic diversity, on sustainable cultural tourism and on countering illicit trafficking of cultural goods, among others.

Some actions funded under this Destination will need access to and/or generate data. Where appropriate, actions should leverage the data and services available through European Research Infrastructures federated under the European Open Science Cloud or included in the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) and the ESFRI roadmap, as well as data from relevant European Data Spaces. In particular, projects that produce data or digital tools of potential interest to cultural heritage institutions or researchers should, as appropriate, establish links to and/or consider integrating their results in the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH)^[3].Particular efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of actions under this Destination is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable).

The innovation ecosystems created and nurtured by the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), in particular the KIC “EIT Culture and Creativity”, may contribute to actions under this destination, and may as appropriate be considered by applicants. Furthermore, applicants are invited to consult funding opportunities in other parts of the Horizon Europe Work Programme, including for instance the funding opportunities for companies, high potential start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovative researchers offered under the European Innovation Council.

R&I actions under this Destination will help ensure Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness, support people, strengthening our societies and our social model, contribute to protecting our democracy, upholding our values and boosting a global Europe, leveraging our power and partnerships. They will contribute to reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals and to building a stronger, more participatory and crisis-resilient society and economy. They will support the realisation of the full potential of cultural heritage, arts and cultural and creative industries as drivers of sustainable innovation and a European sense of belonging.

To maximise the impacts of R&I under this Destination in line with EU priorities, international cooperation is encouraged whenever relevant in the proposed topics.

Expected impact:

Proposals for topics under this Destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following expected impact of the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan:

• The full potential of cultural heritage, arts and cultural and creative industries and sectors as drivers of both sustainable innovation and a European sense of belonging is realised through a continuous engagement with society, citizens and economic sectors.

[1] Council conclusions of 21 May 2014 on cultural heritage as a strategic resource for a sustainable Europe (2014/C 183/08) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52014XG0614(08)

[2] CETS 199 - Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (coe.int)

[3] See further for instance https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/research-area/social-sciences-and-humanities/cultural-heritage-and-cultural-and-creative-industries-ccis/cultural-heritage-cloud_en

Expected Outcome:

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Deepened knowledge of the potential positive effects of cultural experiences on health and well-being^[1] is developed and made available to relevant stakeholders, along with validated scalable and replicable practices to reinforce these effects
• Key industrial, health, cultural, educational and/or civil society actors are aware of validated systemic approaches to make cultural experiences improve health and well-being and are engaged in producing or supporting such cultural experiences
• Competitive European cultural and creative sectors and industries systematically contribute to improve health and well-being

Scope:

It is widely recognised that cultural experiences, such as those offered by cultural heritage institutions (CHIs) or cultural and creative sectors and industries (CCSI), can be beneficial for health and well-being. Research done, though scattered and not always systematic, supports this conclusion, with for instance the World Health Organisation arguing that cultural experiences contribute to health in four areas: prevention of ill-health, promotion of healthy behaviour, as well as management and treatment of disease^[2].

However, there is still a lack of systematic research into the key characteristics and circumstances of cultural experiences to best support health and well-being. The challenge is to remedy this situation by developing evidence-based and validated practices that can be understood and used by CHIs and CCSI as well as other key stakeholders to develop cultural experiences that effectively support health and well-being.

There are many possible ways to approach this challenge. Proposals are free to choose the focus considered to have the best potential to achieve a strong impact and should make sure to delimit the focus in a way that allows for sufficiently thorough work. Activities may thus concentrate on different kinds of arts and culture – interventions and/or experiences – online and/or in person – and/or on cross-sectoral issues. Proposals should, however, credibly explain why the chosen focus and approach are likely to achieve a strong impact.

One possible focus could be on arts and culture-based experiences as a societal support kit, in situations of crises or other circumstances where health or well-being is under threat. Decision-makers could thus benefit from a set of validated practices that help support well-being among the population in such situations. Such research might be based on good examples provided by Member States/Associated Countries or other stakeholders, with a view to consolidate and build on existing knowledge and practices.

Another possible focus could be on mobilising a particular cultural and creative industry to contribute to health and well-being, such as for instance the video games industry. Ever more people spend ever more time on games, making this an important and growing source of cultural experiences, with a strong interactive component. Besides being a source of entertainment, video game communities give opportunities for isolated, underprivileged or discriminated people to find a sense of belonging, and to contribute to societal goals. At the same time, however, a context of competitivity and anonymity may invite harassment and discrimination in online multi-player video games.

A third possible focus could be an implementation research approach, exploring the obstacles to adoption of already validated arts and culture –based intervention(s) that support health and well-being, and developing effective way(s) to achieve broad uptake.

In order to achieve evidence-based and validated practices that can be understood and used by CHIs and/or CCSI as well as by other targeted key actors and stakeholders, projects should involve stakeholders from such sectors. To validate practices, projects may launch small scale pilot trials but may also choose other validation methods appropriate to the focus chosen. As appropriate for the focus chosen, projects should properly take the gender dimension into account, such as for instance gender differences in cultural participation and its consequences. Projects may award financial support to third parties in order to involve entities such as CCSI, CHIs or other important stakeholders which are not part of the project consortium. Such support can only be given in the form of grants.

To the extent appropriate, projects should build on previous research and innovation and established methods. In particular, as appropriate, projects may establish links to the project funded under call topic ‘HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-09 Impacts of Culture and the Arts on Health and Well-being’.

Proposals may consider, as appropriate considering the focus chosen, the involvement of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), based on its experience for example with the SciArt and artist-in-residency programmes, and the value it could bring in providing an effective interface between research activities and policymaking.

[1] ‘Health and well-being’ should in the context of this topic be understood in a comprehensive sense, comprising both mental and physical health and well-being.

[2] See the 2019 WHO Scoping review “What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being?”