Creative Lives was delighted to host the official book launch of Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health by Professor Daisy Fancourt at Somerset House on 8 January 2026. 

We were joined by colleagues from across the arts and health sectors, to celebrate this pivotal moment as Daisy advances our collective aim to showcase the benefits of creative activity into the public realm. The evening was electric: we heard how the arts can affect brain health, prevent ageing, reduce stress and mental illness, support neonatal care and more. The science is robust and compelling, and Daisy makes it easy to understand.

Across the UK and Ireland, Creative Lives has been championing grassroots creativity, working to help ensure that voluntary creative groups thrive and are recognised for the essential contribution they make to individual and community wellbeing. 

In recent years, there has been a growing understanding of the health benefits of participating in creative activities. Daisy, a Professor at University College London, has been the leading light in evidencing the health benefits of arts and cultural engagement. She has published 300 scientific papers, won over two dozen academic prizes, and is listed as one of the most highly cited scientists in the world. 

Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health provides a moment to capture the public’s imagination and move creative health from a siloed sector to one that enters all our lives, as everyone begins to recognise the health benefits of singing, dancing, listening to music and other aspects of arts and creativity.

Published by Penguin, Art Cure has been named as Book of the Month by every major UK retailer and has already hit the Amazon bestseller list. The book sets out the phenomenal contribution arts and creativity makes to the health and wellbeing of individuals and societies by sharing cutting-edge scientific evidence.

There are creative groups in every community, but they are under-recognised and under-valued. For these groups, the evidence in Art Cure represents a resounding endorsement of their activities: a substantial evidence base which states categorically that their work is beneficial. 

Daisy talks about this being a ‘seatbelt moment’ for the arts. Once upon a time, people had to be convinced of the merits of wearing seatbelts, giving up smoking, eating healthily etc. We have now reached a point when public and policy awareness of the benefits of cultural participation are achieving a significant step change. 

In addition to the individual wellbeing benefits of creative engagement, there are also advantages for communities. Our Policy Director, Jess Plant, recently wrote in Arts Professional about the role creative groups can play in building social bonds and bridging divides within communities: Choirs, knitting and printing: Everyday creativity and community bonding - Arts Professional.

Art Cure shows that the work of artists and arts organisations in communities is already delivering not just health benefits, but health economic benefits,” says Daisy, “and it makes the case for why investing in the arts is actually an investment in health and society much more broadly.

Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health by Professor Daisy Fancourt is published by Penguin and is out now.

Buy your copy