Platform Meeting 2025

The Event will be organized by the Arts Academy of Turku UAS in collaboration with Taikusydän Arts & Health Coordination Centre in FinlandThe link takes you to an external site, and the Nordic Arts and Health Research Network. 

Monday September 29, 2025

09:00-10:00 Network

10:00-10:30 Welcoming Words & Circus Performances. Hosted by actor Kristina Vahvaselkä

• Circus Performances by Turku Arts Academy students: Groovin’ in the Air, Isabella Hännikkälä and Ella Laitinen My Inner Circle, Jaska Isola
• Welcoming Words: Taru Koivisto, director, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland
• Welcoming Words: Anna-Mari Rosenlöf, Senior Advisor, Turku UAS Arts Academy and Taikusydän Arts & Health Coordination Centre in Finland

10:30-11:15 Keynote: “Good Arts, Good Mental Health®”, Prof. Christina Davies, Director of the Centre for Arts, Mental Health and Wellbeing, University of Western Australia

11:15-12:00 Introduction to CultureAndHealth Platform; Cornelia Kiss and Marie Wittig

13:00-14:15 Parallel Sessions I: 

• Bringing Culture and Health Policies Together:

  Sharing insights from the EU Member States Culture and Health OMC-report (Sigyn Hall) Kornelia Kiss, Head of Culture and Health, Culture Action Europe, Edith Wolf Perez, Founder & Chairwoman, Co-Founder of ARTS for HEALTH AUSTRIA, Co-Chair, EU Member States’, “Culture and Health” Open Method of Coordination (OMC) Group, Bruno Gallice, OMC Culture and Health delegate, Cultural and Territorial Action Advisor, DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – French Ministry of Culture, France, Broula Barnohro Oussi, Strategist, Region Stockholm Competence Centre for Culture and Health, Sweden, Laura Norppa, Ministry of Education and Culture, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Cultural Affairs, Finland
• Workshop A: Play and Creativity in Dance (Vulcan Hall) Riina Kalmi, dance artist, Finland
• Workshop B: Person-centered Music-making on Hospital Wards (Studio Theatre) MusiCare-Team: Stefan Heckel, Laura Bezold, Austria
• Showcasing Artist Practices A: (Rope Theatre) Creating and Experiencing Art in an End-of-life Unit, Paul Peinture, painter, France, Vanishing Dad. A Project Carried out with Prisoners, Kuba Kapral, Poland, Dance Ambassadors®, Regional Dance Centre of Western Finland, Sanna Meska, managing director, Finland

14:15-14:45 Networking, Posters & Stands

14:45-16:00 Parallel Sessions II:

Panel Discussion:

Youth Mental Health and the Arts (Sigyn Hall) Moderator Anna Jussilainen, Senior Lecturer in Creative Well-being, Turku University of Applied Sciences. Christina Davies, Professor, Centre for Arts, Mental Health and Wellbeing WA, University of Western Australia, Katy Geersten, Dance artist and Pedagogue, Arts for Health Austria, Satu Haapalainen, Senior Lecturer, Pediatric nurse, Health and Well-being, Turku University of Applied SciencesMaru Hietala, Artivist, Artworker, Children and Youth Foundation, Elina Rantanen, Deputy Mayor of Turku for Children and Youth.

Showcasing Artist Practices B: (Rope Theatre)

• Hyde and Sick: Imagining New Walls in Psychiatric Care, Giovanni Bosco Iafrate, visual artist, Italy  , Participatory Kantele Concert, Marjo Smolander, musician, music pedagogue (MA), Finland, Community Cares, Ioana Turcan, artist and cultural worker, Romania 
• Workshop C: Songs from the Inside: Co-Creative Songwriting in Healthcare (Vulcan Hall) Saaramaija Żórawski, music pedagogue (MA), musician
• Workshop D: Person-centered Music-making on Hospital Wards (Studio Theatre) MusiCare-Team: Stefan Heckel, Laura Bezold, Austria

Tuesday, September 30

Parallel Sessions III:

9.00–10.15 Rope Theatre Research Presentations: Session: Enacting Health through Theatre and Drama

• 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” The research presentations are provided by the Nordic Arts and Health Research Network

(NAHRN) members. NAHRN is a forum launched in 2019 for exchange and collaboration of arts & health researchers within the Nordic area.

9.00–10.15 Showcasing Artist Practices C: (incl. three presentations)

•  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

09:00–10:15 Studio Theatre Workshop E:“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

A presentation of the project "Seen for Who I Am", including selected film clips and a participatory workshop in writing, filmmaking, and performance. Participants will gain insight into the creative process and have the opportunity to engage hands-on through a short exercise in storytelling, camera work, and performance.

"Seen for Who I Am" is a co-creative artistic documentary film project made by and for children living with serious medical conditions. Through participatory filmmaking, we create space for the children’s own voices and perspectives to be seen and heard. The films are the result of a collaborative process. The workshop is supported by Kompetenscentrum för kultur och hälsa, Region Stockholm, Sweden.