About the project

The Culture for Health project is supported by a grant from the Nordic Council of Ministers, and certain events are co-sponsored by interest Russian and Nordic partners.

Project goal:

• Increasing awareness of the role that culture plays in sustainable development of health care as part of the welfare of society through knowledge exchange and increasing the potential of Nordic countries and Russia.

Project tasks:

• Creating a sustainable interdisciplinary platform for interested parties to promote the role of culture in people’s health;
• Keeping issues related to the role of culture for health and cultural rehabilitation of people with disabilities in the agenda for St. Petersburg;
• Finding a joint pilot project for Nordic countries and Russia to be further implemented in St. Petersburg.

The proposed project is valuable for the Nordic region, where public health improvement is considered to be part of the welfare model. A study conducted by the Nordic Council of Ministers entitled ‘A Good Life in a Sustainable Nordic Region – Nordic Strategy for Sustainable Development’ reports that ‘A healthy population is crucial to a sustainable welfare model. A healthy population has a positive influence on countries’ competitiveness, growth and innovative capacity.’

The project promotes a Nordic approach, according to which culture plays a major role in health care, which is new for north-western Russia.

During the project’s preparation stage, the Nordic and Russian partners suggested several areas for the pilot project, including:

• Development of educational programmes on culture for healthcare and medical staff as well as professionals who work in culture, including those who work with people who have disabilities;
• Detecting problem areas in the development of culture for health: capacity, influences, overcoming resistance, and risk mitigation;
• Including cultural events in HR strategies and management in health care to prevent employee burnout;
• Holding events in culture for health for various purposes and target groups, including people with disabilities, children and youth, socially vulnerable groups, healthy lifestyles, etc.