The arts can transform people’s lives, improve people’s health and well-being, and have a role in solving social problems. The UK has an arts sector which is world-class and wide-reaching: commercial arts such as the music industry and publishing, voluntary arts (49,000 local arts groups involving 9.4 million people) and a publicly funded sector which helps the arts to innovate, widen access and raise quality.
Aesop’s mission is to realise this potential to transform. Health is the initial focus: helping health harness the powers of the arts, and helping the arts gear up to deliver health improvement. Uniquely, they start with health challenges, and nurture ‘Arts Enterprises with a Social Purpose’. These use high quality artists and, from a health point of view, are evidence-based, cost-effective, sustainable and scalable.
Aesop is a bridge-builder between the health and arts sectors helping arts enterprises in health grow. One of its key projects, Dance to Health, uses dance to help older people reduce the risk of falls.
Dance to Health is managed by Aesop and run in Cheshire in partnership with Cheshire Dance and Cheshire East Council.
Find out more about AESOP: http://www.ae-sop.org/
"If an arts programme is evidence-based, can benefit patients and save the NHS money, then it deserves to be available to all patients who could benefit, anywhere in the country. Our goal is for Dance to Health to be the first such programme."
AESOP
Dance to Health responds to the issue of older people’s falls. Dance to Health in Cheshire is delivered by professional dance artists from Cheshire Dance at a variety of community venues, including church halls and leisure facilities.
