Art, Creativity, & Dementia
A major article in The Lancet, one of the world's leading medical journals, is a review by Kate Womersley of Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health by Daisy Fancourt. (1)
The reviewer's conclusion is clear: "My hope for Art Cure is that it finds its way into the hands of policy makers already sympathetic to the arts, who can use the book's clear argument to claw back funding for galleries, theatres, concerts, art therapy in medical settings, and the artists who make all of this happen." Womersley notes that Fancourt's account of the economic argument for arts, including music,as ‘medicine’, that is as therapy, is impressive, citing annual savings of over £18 billion in the UK alone from improved wellbeing among working-age adults who engage in the arts and other creative activities.
'Creative health' is the term now used to be more inclusive, and this covers, for example, carpentry and knitting as well as the conventional 'arts and culture' and there is now a National Centre for Creative Health. Every individual should be informed about the health benefits of creative activity, both in the prevention and the treatment of dementia and then enabled to increase their own creativity.
Reference
Womersley K. (2026) Art on repeat prescription. The Lancet. Review of: Fancourt D. Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health. Available at: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01151-7/fulltext?rss=yes