Programme: Nordic Arts & Health Research Network meeting on 30 September – 1 October 2025, Turku, Finland

04.07.2025

 

The Nordic Arts & Health Research Network will organise their next network meeting on 30 September – 1 October in Turku, Finland. The theme of the network meeting is Arts Supporting Mental Health and Wellbeing. The meeting is hosted by Turku University of Applied Sciences and organised in collaboration with the Culture and Health Platform project.

We warmly welcome all network members to participate in two exciting days with presentations, workshops and networking opportunities together with your Nordic and international Arts and Health colleagues. The programme on Tuesday 30 September is organised jointly with the Culture and Health Forum. The event is free of charge for the network members.

Registration for the event is open until 12 September: Please register here.
(Please note that this registration form is intended for both the network meeting and Culture and Health Forum. Also note that the places in these events are limited.)

 

Programme

 

Tuesday, September 30

 

9:00-10:15 Parallel Sessions (III)

Research Presentations: Session: Enacting health through theatre and drama (Rope Theatre)

  • Riku Laakkonen & Jenny Paananen, Tampere University: “Empathy in Action: Drama Workshop as a Safe Place to Practice Challenging Encounters in Nursing Home”
  • Eva Hallgren, Stockholm University: “Creating Together in Existential Fragility: Drama/Theatre Participation in Early Psychosis Care”
  • Jenny Wiik, Novia University of Applied Sciences & Tove Hagström, Yttra Tove Hagström: “The Song of the Tree – From Play to Activating Classroom Workshop for Teenagers”

Showcasing Artist Practices (Sigyn Hall)

  • Sound Hug – creating a musical artwork tailored for tinnitus patients, Boštjan Simon, musician, Slovenia
  • Healing Walls: Art as Therapy in Institutional Spaces, Melinda Šefčić, Ph.D., Visual Artist and Researcher, Assistant Professor (external), Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb, Croatia
  • Spectators of Well-being: From Observation to Participation Through Performance, Veronica Lista, theatrical educator, Italy

Workshop: “Expressing one’s true self through text, film and voice.” Co-creative artistic documentary film with and for children with serious medical conditions, Lisa Partby, documentary filmmaker and pedagogue, Sweden (Studio Theatre)

Workshop: “Cut, Fold, Mad!: DIY zines making workshop”, Shambhavi Singh, University of Helsinki (Room H319/330)

Workshop: “Humour in Healthcare”, Maria Gundolf, RED NOSES Germany  (Vulcan Hall)

10:15-10:45 Coffee break & Posters & Stands (Rope Theatre Lounge)

10:45-12:00 Parallel Sessions (IV)

Research Presentations: Session: Links between creativity and wellbeing (Sigyn Hall)

  • Viktorija Bogdanova & Inkeri Aula & Masood Masoodian, Aalto University: “The creative journey as a transformative process affecting well-being”
  • Sofia Elena Sacchini, Associazione Oltre… APS, Italy: Beyond Participation: Artivism, Prevention, and the Right to Collective Well-being

European collaboration (Rope Theatre)

  • AWAKE: Arts & Wellbeing as a Creative Business and Future Livelihood, Dace Resele, Acting Head of the NDPC Secretariat, Latvia
  • CARE: Culture for Mental Health, Claudia Cacovean, Project Manager, Cluj Cultural Centre, Romania
  • Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region, Liisa Laitinen, Advisor, Arts & Health, Turku University of Applied Sciences, Finland

Workshop: Art in Sensory Rooms as Part of Psychiatric Care: Introducing a Collaborative Journey of Artists, Experts by Experience and the Hospital Clinical Staff in an Artist-led Project at TYKS Compass Hospital, Nina Rantala, visual artist engaging interactive and communal processes, Finland (Vulcan)

12:00-13:00 Lunch at Sigyn (self paid)

13:00-14:15 Parallel Sessions (V)

Research Presentations: Session: Arts and mental health in community practices (Sigyn Hall)

  • Marit Stranden, Norwegian Resource Center for Arts and Health: “In Motion – developing a guide that use dance artists’ embodied experience to make movements accessible and safe”
  • Keld Stehr Nielsen, National Centre for Arts & Mental Health – Denmark: “What can the grey literature tell us about the relation between art and mental health – and how to extract it”
  • Kai Lehikoinen, Research Institute, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland: “Socially Engaged Art as a Subject of Study”

Showcasing Artist Practices: (Rope Theatre)

  • THE NEEDS OF NEETS – Collaborative Working Beyond the “Safe Space”, Darrel Toulon, prime investigator & artistic director & Jonatan Salgado Romero, videographer, filmmaker, Austria
  • Block Theatre – About the universal language of wooden blocks, Roosa Halme, puppet theatre artist, Finland
  • Meeting people with circus on your eyes, Lida Kuusisto, circus artist, Finland

Workshop: ” TOSI-labra – An Arts-Based Method for Supporting Youth Wellbeing and Agency”,  Pilvi Kuitu & Katriina Nylund, Cultural Centre PiiPoo & Tampere University (Studio Theatre)

14:15-14:45 Coffee break & Posters & Stands (Rope Theatre Lounge)

14:45-16:30 Reflective Panel Discussion & Closing, Art Performance (Sigyn Hall)

  • Moderator: Natalie Giorgadze, General Director, Culture Action Europe
  • Circus performances by Turku Arts Academy students:
    • Silky Smooth, Viktoriia Adamova & United, Isabella Hännikkälä, Ella Laitinen, Jaska Isola and Viktoriia Adamova

18:00 –> Evening programme

 

Wednesday, October 1  

8.30-9.30       Membership meeting (Kuvateatteri)

9.30-9.45        Break

Session: Art therapy: Contexts and perspectives of emotion regulation and pain management  (Kuvateatteri)

9.45-10.05   Kristin Benedicte Svendsen, Oslo Metropolitan University: Integrating Art Therapy to Strengthen Emotional Regulation in Chronic Pain Management

10.05-10.25 Mimmu Rankanen, Oslo Metropolitan University: Theoretical perspective on processing and regulating emotions in art therapy

Break 10.25-11.00

 

Session: Supporting older adults through digital audio and music (Kuvateatteri)

11.00-11.20   Emily Cousins, University of Southern Denmark, Digital audio entertainment for wellbeing: findings from creative workshops with older adults

11.20-11.40   Heini Siltainsuu, University of Jyväskylä: Becoming me with music – understanding the role of music in the subjective wellbeing and identity work of ageing individuals

11.40-12.00 End of the meeting

12.00-> Lunch (self paid)

 

Please note that changes in the programme may still occur.

 

About the venue:

The network meeting is organised at Arts Academy, Turku University of Applied Sciences (Linnankatu 54-60, 20100 Turku, Finland). Arts Academy is located by the Aura River, about 2 km from the city centre.

 

For more info about the network meeting, contact: Liisa Laitinen, liisa.laitinen@turkuamk.fi