Critical Connections is the arts and health development programme for Yorkshire and The Humber.

This Arts Council England, Yorkshire initiative, in partnership with the Regional Public Health Group, builds on a wealth of successful examples of partnership working between the arts and health across the region. A number of shared policy objectives have been identified:

• Working with young people & children
• Healthy communities; supporting, empowering, transforming
• Workforce development (in creative, health, care and community sectors)
• Healthy buildings and environments: for example Private Finance Initiatives (PFI), Local Area Investment Initiatives (LIFT) and Procure 21 (P21) in healthcare and other community / regeneration settings

There is a growing body of arts and health practitioners, projects and partnerships across the region whose work is contributing to these objectives. Critical Connections aims to support those working in the arts and healthcare sectors by providing them with the information, contacts and confidence they need to establish and sustain high quality and effective arts projects and interventions that have a positive impact on the health of the region.

Open Art, an arts and health based organisation in Yorkshire, has been appointed to deliver a programme of activity, to help achieve this. The programme will:

• Deliver a series of events to showcase good practice, and enable networking
• Launch a website to provide information
• Produce publications which advocate for the arts and health in the region
• Establish a champions programme to celebrate and support advocates of arts and health
• Identify a research agenda for the arts and health in Yorkshire
• Develop a database of key arts and health contacts in the region