It’s time to stop asking whether creativity can support our health and instead start scaling up: Reflections from the Labour Party Conference

Young people in the UK are facing a mental health crisis and we know that creativity and culture is a powerful intervention. After speaking at the Labour Party Conference 2025, the Southbank Centre ’s Artistic Director, Mark Ball , shares his reflections and calls for an ongoing commitment to ensure culture plays a fundamental role in bolstering the health of the nation.

There’s no shortage of evidence that creativity makes us feel good. And it’s something that I get to witness daily as the Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre. From the joyful faces of audiences thrilled by Rambert and La(HORDE)’s recent dance spectacular that took place across the whole Southbank site, to the beaming smiles of a family leaving the Royal Festival Hall invigorated by that one musician they all love.

The data backs this up too. A brilliant Government-commissioned study last year concluded that consuming culture is vital for health and wellbeing, generating a whopping £8bn a year in improvements to people’s quality of life.¹ 

When I found myself on a panel at the Labour Party Conference this week, hosted by Angela Rippon , it was therefore reaffirming that we could all agree that creativity is essential to the nation’s health.

Joining Patrick Fox (Chief Executive, Heart of Glass ), Nick Perchard (Director of Communities, The Premier League ), Simon Opher MP (Chair, APPG on Creative Health) and Stephanie Peacock MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport ), we started off by reflecting on some sobering numbers. 

Today, one in five young people aged 8-25 is living with a mental health condition. The number of urgent mental health referrals for under-18s has tripled since 2019. The time to act is now. 

Our Work

At the Southbank Centre, we’re not just here to programme world-class concerts, exhibitions and performances (though we do). We’re here to open our doors wide – to young people, to communities, to those who might never buy a ticket but still need what art offers. And we’ve proven this model. 

During the pandemic, for instance, our Art by Post initiative sent creative booklets to over 40,000 people at risk of social isolation, loneliness and digital exclusion. We delivered this in partnership with the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP), and we’re proud that they call our site their home.

Evaluation showed a significant enhancement in participants’ wellbeing, with surveyed participants expressing a notable increase in positivity (73%), wellbeing (75%), and inspiration for creativity (86%).

‘Art is a way to make someone who is unwell feel connected – it promotes healing and conversation’ - Art by Post participant

So instead of asking ‘can creativity help?’ – that much is known – we now need to start asking ‘how do we scale it?’

That’s why, at a time when we’re looking ahead to the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary, we’re rolling up our sleeves and have committed to developing a major new creative health offer for young people. It will be delivered in partnership with the South East London Integrated Care System , South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust , and King's College London .

It will take place in a dedicated creative health space at Southbank Centre and puts creativity right at the heart of recovery, resilience and mental wellbeing. With programmes like Waiting Well, offering creative interventions for children on mental health service waiting lists; prevention-focused activities, using the arts to address issues before they become crises; and crucially, signposting to employability pathways – because wellbeing is also about purpose, opportunity, and economic inclusion.

We want to build something that could be a national model but we also know that we can’t do it alone. Partnerships matter. Long-term funding matters. So do bold policy shifts – particularly those which prioritise long-term, preventive measures to the nation’s declining mental health. This was a key takeaway from the panel discussion. 

Working With The Community

One thing I stressed at the panel – and always will – is that transformation doesn’t happen in cultural buildings alone. It happens in communities. And to be part of those communities, you can’t just expect people to come to you. You have to go to them, to earn trust, to listen, and to collaborate.

That’s why we’ve already embedded the role of a Community Connector into community engagement work at the Southbank Centre – a brilliant individual who brokers relationships in local neighbourhoods and helps break down the very real barriers people face when accessing cultural spaces. We see roles like this as a crucial part of our wellbeing work going forward.

We’ve also teamed up with Black Thrive this year to launch our own Youth Collective. The Youth Collective, a group of young people aged 11–25 years old, will have a real voice in shaping how we deliver a new creative programme designed to support better mental health for young people in Lambeth and Southwark. 

It leads me to a phrase well-worn in our sector for a reason: partnership working. Creativity achieves its greatest power when it works across sectors – not just within them. In the Labour Party Conference panel I highlighted our important collaborations with the NHS, researchers, local councils, schools, and universities like King’s College London.

We need to keep telling this story together – not just at party conferences, but in boardrooms, GP surgeries, schools, and high streets. The message from the panel was clear: the arts belong in the national public health plan and will have huge long-term benefits.

Thank you to Creative UK for convening such a vital conversation.

— Mark Ball, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre

¹ Culture and heritage capital: Monetising the impact of culture and heritage on health and wellbeing. A report prepared for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. (2024). Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/678e2ecf432c55fe2988f615/rpt_-_Frontier_Health_and_Wellbeing_Final_Report_09_12_24_accessible_final.pdf.